Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• Gong Xi’s grandmother is revealed as the last living “life aspect” needed to complete the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal’s sacrifice. Gong Xi, unaware of her role, dives into the Blood Pool to save her.
• Uncle Wu climbs the statue to claim its Divine Heart. As he fuses with it, he becomes a vessel for the Immortal’s returning will. His connection to the god may have begun long before the crisis.
• Zhao Xi delays Uncle Wu, while Xuan Wen and Situ An struggle to reach the heart. Situ An reveals that he deliberately groomed the perpetrator of the Family Annihilation Case into a murderous vengeful ghost, intending to use it to advance his own ambitions.
• Situ An attacks Uncle Wu with a Killing Talisman, which harms the Immortal through the accumulated sins of its victims. But the god awakens, and the apartment building begins to collapse.
• Gao Ming joins the fight, using a Blood Talisman and Fire Axe to strike Situ An. Xuan Wen saves him from the statue’s blow, then stays behind to hold off Situ An and the Immortal while Gao Ming can reach the heart.
• Xuan Wen is consumed by the Shadow World. She accepts that she cannot change her fate, but says that being the heroine for a week was enough. Before turning away, she tells Gao Ming not to force himself to remember what he promised her in the tunnel.

Character developments and interactions

• Gong Xi risks himself to save his grandmother, unaware that her survival is central to the sacrifice.
• Uncle Wu is revealed as an agent—or vessel—of the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal, willingly surrendering his humanity as the god’s power returns.
• Situ An exposes his manipulative ambition: he cultivated a killer and planned to claim the god’s power for himself. His obsession blurs the boundary between him and the vengeful ghost he controls.
• Gao Ming focuses on stopping Situ An rather than claiming the heart, showing his tactical resolve. He acts alongside Zhao Xi, whose battered body buys him time, and Xuan Wen, who ultimately rescues and protects him.
• Xuan Wen spends her dwindling strength to shield Gao Ming and confront the forces destroying her. Her final words reveal both acceptance of her fate and an emotional connection to Gao Ming.

Significant themes

• The cost of ambition and worship: Situ An treats gods as tools, while the Immortal regards its worshippers as expendable.
• Victims’ suffering as resistance: The Killing Talismans turn the cries and wishes of the innocent into a weapon against the god responsible for their deaths.
• Fate, sacrifice, and agency: Xuan Wen cannot escape the Shadow World’s influence, but chooses how to spend her remaining time—and whom to protect.
• Humanity versus monstrosity: Uncle Wu’s loss of humanity, Situ An’s merging with a vengeful ghost, and Xuan Wen’s transformation all show how power and desperation blur the line between person and monster.

Plot

• Xuan Wen returns to the Shadow World and uses its power to trap Situ An and the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal, buying Gao Ming time to reach the Divine Heart. She intends to hold the two enemies back even though doing so means embracing the shadows herself.
• Gao Ming’s memories and will resonate with the Divine Heart, merging it with his mutated heart to create a supernatural Heart Chamber outside both worlds. The Chamber forms a new Divine Statue from the blood and sacrifices connected to Sishui Apartments.
• The new statue’s appearance weakens the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal. Situ An, furious that Gao Ming has taken the heart he spent twenty years cultivating, is dragged into the shadows with Xuan Wen.
• Gao Ming survives the battle, badly injured and close to death. Wan Qiu helps him leave the Blood Pool and chooses to remain at Sishui Apartments to care for the children. Zhu Miaomiao is also found alive but needs urgent treatment.
• Gao Ming makes his way out of the building. The shadows recede, the rain stops, and waiting Investigators celebrate the apparent resolution of the anomaly. As Gao Ming collapses at the boundary of shadow and sunlight, the character for “fate” on his palm and his failing heartbeat suggest his survival remains uncertain.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming claims the Divine Heart and gains a powerful new connection to the apartments, but pays for it with catastrophic injuries. His concern for Wan Qiu leads him to accept Wan Qiu’s choice to stay.
• Xuan Wen completes her rebellion against her assigned fate by willingly using the Shadow World to protect Gao Ming. She disappears with Situ An, leaving her own outcome unclear.
• Situ An is consumed by hatred when his long-term plan fails, yet cannot escape Xuan Wen’s grasp or the shadows.
• Wan Qiu shifts from survivor to caretaker, deciding to raise the children left without a mother. He helps Gao Ming and brings the gravely weakened Zhu Miaomiao to him.
• The Investigators outside the apartments demonstrate solidarity: despite the danger, they remain ready to enter if Gao Ming fails to return.

Significant themes

• Fate versus choice: Xuan Wen and Gao Ming resist the roles imposed on them, while Situ An’s belief that fate cannot be changed ends in defeat.
• Sacrifice and survival: The Heart Chamber is built from the dead and their suffering, and the victory comes at immense personal cost.
• Hope amid uncertainty: The shadows retreat and daylight returns, but Gao Ming collapses before anyone knows whether he will live—or what tomorrow will bring.

• Plot and events: Gao Ming wakes in the Investigation Bureau’s hospital after the Sishui Apartments incident. His organs have suffered irreversible damage, and doctors give him three days to live. Bureau officials credit him with the investigation’s outcome but ask him to keep Situ An’s betrayal secret to prevent further damage to the Bureau. They offer to grant his requests and mention researchers who want to examine him; Gao declines to engage with them and instead insists on visiting the tunnel at the Three-City Junction.
• Character developments and interactions: Gao accepts his approaching death with striking calm, focused less on dying than on whether someone else will be chosen by the shadow world after him. He tries calling home but gets no answer, then ignores messages from classmates—including Liu Yi, who says Gao’s game is causing strange events—and repeated calls from an unknown number. Chen Yuntian and other officials show concern for Gao, while Security personnel escort him to the tunnel and follow him inside, eventually disappearing.
• Tunnel revelation: As Gao walks through the unnaturally endless darkness, he recalls that his mind suppressed memories of a terrifying event there on the night of the Ghost Festival. A voice seems to guide him deeper. The path changes, water appears to rise from the ground, and the tunnel walls feel like flesh. At the chapter’s end, Gao sees the walls embedded with corpses whose faces are all his own, each dead in a different horrific way.
• Significant themes: The chapter contrasts ordinary life with Gao’s growing isolation and proximity to death. It also explores institutional secrecy and fragile trust, the limits of memory as self-protection, and the possibility that Gao’s fate is tied to a repeating or multiplying cycle of death.

Key events

• In a corpse-lined tunnel, Gao Ming touches the bodies embedded in the walls and relives memories of his many violent deaths. Each version of him made different choices—becoming a game designer, joining the Investigation Bureau, fighting ghosts, rallying survivors, or facing suspicion from colleagues—but every path ended in death.
• The accumulated memories overwhelm him. A mysterious figure appears, claims fate assigns everyone a script, and says it has killed Gao Ming repeatedly. It pierces his skull and begins erasing his memories.
• As Gao Ming’s life seems to end, his Divine Heart merges with his flesh-and-blood heart, preserving some memories. He turns to see a bus approaching and is suddenly back inside it, apparently at an earlier point in time.
• He steps off the bus and finds himself in the same tunnel, surrounded by the corpses of his former selves. His heart’s beat restores the memories hidden in them, and their hearts resonate with his.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming moves from terror and despair toward understanding. He realizes his repeated deaths were not meaningless loops: each version struggled against fate and helped preserve the memories needed for a new beginning.
• The mysterious figure acts as his antagonist, insisting that fate is fixed and that every deviation will be corrected. Gao Ming resists even as it destroys his memories.
• The many dead versions of Gao Ming become a kind of collective support. Through their preserved memories and hearts, they help the present Gao Ming recover himself.
• Other people appear in recalled scenes—his mother, fellow investigators, ghost-game players, and Bureau officials—but their interactions mostly illustrate how isolated, mistrusted, or endangered Gao Ming has been.

Significant themes

• Resistance to fate: Gao Ming’s repeated deaths represent an ongoing refusal to accept an outcome imposed on him.
• Identity and sacrifice: Becoming stronger means repeatedly losing and rebuilding parts of himself; he has become wary and emotionally hardened, but his persistence remains.
• Memory and continuity: His heart preserves what his mind cannot, allowing past selves to contribute to the present.
• Ordinary courage: Gao Ming concludes that he has no exceptional gifts or outside help—only the determination to keep struggling. He interprets his deaths not as the end, but as the price of a beginning.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming’s memories return in the tunnel, including the many times a mysterious man killed him. The man claims fate has assigned Gao Ming a role: his games are based on real supernatural cases, and he must guide people through them or sacrifice them to contain the threats.
• Gao Ming recognizes the man’s account as a lie. The horrors did not come from games he created; they were real experiences that fate could not fully erase. Refusing the man’s script, Gao Ming runs toward the tunnel exit, determined to reclaim his life and make up for past regrets.
• Xuan Wen finds Gao Ming and carries him out. Though she has come intending to kill him because of the hold he seems to have over her, she cannot bring herself to do it.
• Gao Ming tells her that she was not created by him and suggests the posthumous photo linked to them may exist because they have both died before. He vows to uncover the truth.
• Xuan Wen asks Gao Ming to promise not to return her involuntary love or use it to manipulate her. He agrees, warning that his injured brain makes him lose memories. She carries him home, and his repeated thanks end with her exasperated protest.

Character developments

• Gao Ming regains his memories and sense of self. He rejects the idea that fate controls everything and chooses to act freely, despite his injuries and the danger ahead.
• Xuan Wen reveals a conflict between her instinct to eliminate vulnerabilities and her unexpected, unwanted attachment to Gao Ming. She chooses to protect him while setting firm boundaries around her feelings.

Significant themes

• Free will versus fate: Gao Ming challenges the claim that everyone must follow a predetermined script.
• Memory, identity, and repetition: His recovered memories reveal repeated deaths and suggest that the characters’ histories extend beyond what they remember.
• Love and vulnerability: Xuan Wen’s attachment unsettles her, while her request asks Gao Ming not to exploit it.
• Escaping the past: Gao Ming’s flight from the tunnel marks a determination to live as himself rather than be governed by old cycles.

Character interactions

• The mysterious man tries to define Gao Ming’s purpose and control him, but Gao Ming silently rejects his narrative.
• Gao Ming and Xuan Wen share an uncanny familiarity despite apparently meeting for the first time. Their exchange blends trust, suspicion, and care: she considers killing him, yet ultimately carries him to safety.
• Gao Ming’s sincere, repeated gratitude contrasts with Xuan Wen’s guarded manner and closes their reunion on a light, humorous note.

Plot points and events

• After escaping the rain-soaked outskirts, Xuan Wen gives Gao Ming a ride back to Lijing Apartments on an electric scooter. Before leaving, Gao Ming warns her not to kill the other eight heroines in the game, arguing that doing so will destroy her and haunt her forever. Xuan Wen rejects his attempt to influence her and rides off.
• Gao Ming returns to his apartment to prepare medicine, then celebrates his birthday with the shadow-world versions of his parents. He wonders whether some genuine affection from his real parents survives in them and offers to become their family if they will tell him the truth.
• The parents cannot answer. When the lights go out, they become threatening, and Gao Ming senses the immense, many-armed Giant Ghost within him. He makes a wish for everyone’s safety; the lights return, and the parents resume their routine.
• Gao Ming restrains the parents and repeatedly completes the apartment’s “family-bonding” ritual, clearing in three hours a challenge that previously took three days. The parents disappear, leaving a memorial photograph that identifies him as the new head of the household and says his home lies between existence and nonexistence. Gao Ming trusts this message more than the tunnel stranger’s claim that he should serve as the city’s watchdog.
• Knowing Zhao Xi is at risk of suicide, Gao Ming heads out with medicine and sedatives, determined to save those he can and eliminate dangerous enemies—especially Situ An.
• In the courtyard, he spots Qi Yan secretly watching a woman who lives alone and preparing tools to attack her. As Qi Yan anticipates destroying her peaceful home, Gao Ming calls his name from close behind.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming shows growing resolve and compassion: he tries to steer Xuan Wen away from violence, longs for a real connection with his parents, and prioritizes rescuing Zhao Xi despite his own weakness. He is also increasingly willing to use force against threats.
• Xuan Wen remains guarded and independent. Gao Ming’s warning exposes how much he knows about her plans, but she refuses his advice and leaves.
• Gao Ming’s parents alternate between affectionate, familiar routines and monstrous behavior. Their relationship with Gao Ming remains ambiguous: he senses possible traces of real parental love, but they cannot respond to his questions.
• Qi Yan is revealed as a would-be attacker, building suspense as Gao Ming confronts him.

Significant themes

• Family and uncertain identity: Gao Ming struggles to distinguish genuine parental feeling from imitation by the shadow world.
• Choice and fate: He tries to change Xuan Wen’s future while confronting conflicting instructions about his own role.
• Memory, pain, and power: His altered heart contains a horrific force tied to buried memories and death.
• Compassion amid horror: Even in a world of monsters, Gao Ming seeks to save others and preserve moments of warmth.
• Threat beneath ordinary life: The birthday ritual and cozy apartment give way to supernatural danger, while Qi Yan’s ordinary-looking stalking signals another imminent horror.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming ambushes Qi Yan, knocks him unconscious, forces pills into his mouth, and ties him up while waiting for the police.
• He rushes to Zhao Xi’s apartment and finds him alive, isolated, and preparing to die. Zhao Xi has written a will leaving his belongings to his elderly adoptive mother.
• Gao Ming asks Zhao Xi to delay his decision and spend time doing things that matter to him. When Zhao Xi doubts he can accomplish anything, Gao Ming reveals a supernatural transformation: the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal emerges from his body.
• Gao Ming realizes that the heart’s accumulated power has restored the Immortal to its complete form, making his heart chamber a prison outside reality and the shadow world.
• He suspects the people sacrificed in the Sishui Apartments may have vanished from the timeline. Calls to verify the existence of Gong Xi and his grandmother, and Fighter No. 17, find no records of them.
• The Immortal’s life-aspect face resembles Gong Xi. Gao Ming believes Grandma’s protective obsession may have preserved Gong Xi’s consciousness within the being.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming acts decisively to restrain Qi Yan and then intervenes in Zhao Xi’s suicidal crisis. His concern for Zhao Xi is personal: he remembers Zhao Xi’s future sacrifice and feels indebted to him. Gao Ming also accepts that he and the Immortal are now bound together.
• Zhao Xi appears exhausted and hopeless, convinced that his lack of education, disability, and difficult family circumstances leave him incapable of doing anything meaningful. Gao Ming’s revelation shakes him, though the chapter ends before showing whether it changes his resolve.
• Gao Ming and Zhao Xi move from a desperate, forceful confrontation to a moment of compassion: Gao Ming embraces him, challenges his self-blame, and offers to stay with him rather than simply lecture him.
• Gao Ming and the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal share a new, intimate bond. The being’s apparent connection to Gong Xi suggests that it may contain surviving consciousness, not just power.

Significant themes

• Hope amid despair: Gao Ming tries to give Zhao Xi more time and a reason to imagine a different future.
• Choice and responsibility: Gao Ming believes he can shape his future, and urges Zhao Xi to live for himself rather than feel trapped by family obligations.
• Sacrifice and its cost: The Immortal’s rebirth depends on accumulated sacrifices, raising the possibility that their victims have been erased from ordinary time.
• Memory and survival: Gong Xi’s apparent presence suggests that a person’s consciousness or deepest attachments may endure through supernatural transformation.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming reveals he intends to oppose Situ An and overturn Hanhai on his own terms, rather than join the Investigation Bureau.
• He brings Zhao Xi face-to-face with the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God, then takes him into the Shadow World, promising to show him the truth.
• Gao Ming and Zhao Xi travel to Number Four, Minlong Street. Along the way, Gao Ming feeds Zhao Xi and buys snacks and toys for a child tied to the Shadow World’s Phobia.
• At Room 405, they witness a violent family argument. The couple appear to be the same people they saw fleeing the building, suggesting the child’s fears are creating or replaying terrifying scenes.
• The boy’s father attacks him, but the child stands his ground with a toy sword and paper figures whose spears seem to wound the father.
• Gao Ming realizes the horrors grow stronger when the boy is afraid. He and Zhao Xi calm the child, causing the monstrous parents to dissolve into shadows and leave behind a rag doll—the apparent source of Phobia.
• The boy remains guarded and clings to the doll. Zhao Xi wins a little of his trust by folding him a paper frog. Gao Ming then offers to celebrate his birthday, hoping to give him a sense of home and safety.

Character developments

• Gao Ming becomes more openly defiant and determined to forge his own path. He also shows compassion, protecting the boy and trying to help him through kindness rather than force.
• Zhao Xi is still frightened and disoriented, but begins to recover his appetite and follows Gao Ming despite his fear. His kindness and patience help him connect with the boy.
• The boy shows remarkable courage: although frightened and neglected, he resists his father and does not cry. Yet he remains distrustful and has not fully overcome his fear.

Significant themes

• Fear and courage: The boy’s fear gives the Shadow World’s horrors strength, while his resistance weakens them.
• Healing through care: Food, gifts, reassurance, and companionship offer a gentler path toward recovery.
• Neglect and abuse: The boy’s frightening home life is reflected in the monsters that surround him.
• Choosing one’s own path: Gao Ming rejects institutional power and commits to confronting the crisis on his own terms.

Character interactions

• Gao Ming reassures and guides Zhao Xi, helping him face the supernatural world without abandoning his compassionate nature.
• Gao Ming and Zhao Xi work together to soothe the boy; Zhao Xi’s simple, playful gesture with the paper frog builds a tentative bond.
• Gao Ming protects the boy from his father and invites him to celebrate his birthday, offering the care his parents have denied him.

Key events

• Gao Ming invites Ghost Dad and Ghost Mom into the Shadow World to celebrate An’an’s birthday. Zhao Xi joins them, and the gathering gradually fills the room with more ghostly parents from Gao Ming’s black-and-white photo.
• Gao Ming comforts An’an, whose fear eases as he experiences a warm, crowded family gathering. He learns that the boy’s parents called him “An’an” after a former pet dog and had left him in chronic fear and neglect.
• Gao Ming realizes An’an’s rag doll—once a source of courage—became the origin of Phobia. After leaving the Shadow World, the doll transforms into a black-and-white posthumous photo bearing the message: “When you feel afraid, first think carefully: are you afraid of me, or are you afraid of yourself?”
• Gao Ming asks Zhao Xi to stay with An’an. He believes the lonely, unacknowledged Zhao and the frightened, abandoned boy can offer each other the companionship and care they lack.
• With Phobia’s source secured, Gao Ming heads to Nightlight Game Studio to protect his game-design documents from Situ An. There he finds blood on the floor and Wei Dayou examining the files. Wei realizes that one of Gao Ming’s escape-and-kill game concepts has become real, and begins wondering whether Gao is involved in the murders. The two come face to face as the chapter ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming pursues Phobia as a strategic weapon and considers the Shadow World’s Lishan area a potential refuge if he falls out with the Investigation Bureau. At the same time, he shows tenderness toward An’an, promising to help make up for the boy’s missed birthdays. He also discovers Ghost Dad and Ghost Mom behave normally when he stays close to them, a limitation he may be able to exploit.
• An’an shifts from wary and fearful to briefly happy and secure. His generous offer of the largest cake slices suggests how unused he is to being cared for.
• Zhao Xi is initially awkward around Gao Ming’s ghostly family, but his sympathy for An’an develops into a chance for mutual healing: he can provide the boy with stability, while An’an may give Zhao a sense of family and purpose.
• Wei Dayou is injured and shaken by the apparent overlap between Gao Ming’s designs and real murders. His suspicion conflicts with his loyalty: he doubts Gao may be the masked killer, yet insists Gao is his best friend and must have an explanation.

Significant themes

• Fear and its origins: Phobia emerges not from a lack of courage, but from the painful gap between a child’s need for safety and the fear imposed by his parents.
• Found family and healing: A birthday celebration and shared care offer An’an and Zhao the possibility of repairing their loneliness.
• The uncanny crossing into reality: Gao Ming’s fictional game concepts appear to have become real, putting his friends and his work at risk.
• Care amid danger: Gao Ming’s calculated plans coexist with genuine attempts to comfort others, while the warmth of the gathering remains shadowed by the ghosts’ disturbing presence.

Chapter 70 — Summary

Key plot points

• Gao Ming confronts Wei Dayou at Nightlight Studio after the Ghost Festival killings. Wei suspects Gao because the murderer used the same death quiz from their game, but Gao proves he was home with his family during the attack.
• Gao reveals that anomaly events are about to spread through Hanhai. He asks Wei to join the East District Investigation Bureau and eventually enter the Queen Investigation Office, where he can monitor Situ An.
• Gao identifies Situ An as a future bureau chief and a major adversary tied to the Family Annihilation Case. He plans to create a personalized horror game for him, using his knowledge of future events and anomalies.
• Gao tells Wei to delete the studio’s game files, then leaves to pursue his plans. He takes the cat Fortune with him, jokingly naming it his “number one enforcer.”
• Gao waits for Wan Qiu at St. Louis School, hoping to prevent the bullying Wan Qiu suffered in his past. Wan Qiu never arrives: he refused charity assistance and ran away. Gao tracks his route toward Sishui Apartments and wonders whether Wan Qiu remembers the shadow world.

Character developments

• Gao Ming is increasingly purposeful and vengeful. His memories of repeated deaths fuel his plan to make those responsible experience similar suffering, though he says he will not target ordinary people.
• Wei Dayou demonstrates loyalty by choosing to believe Gao. He agrees to join the Investigation Bureau and spy on Situ An.
• Wan Qiu appears to have changed his own fate through an unexpected choice: rather than leave the shadow world with Gao, he stayed to care for Ghost Mom’s daughters and later ran away from school.
• Fortune becomes Gao’s reluctant companion and self-appointed follower.

Significant themes

• Fate and change: Wan Qiu’s altered choices suggest that the future is not fixed.
• Revenge and justice: Gao intends to turn his painful memories into horror games aimed at people who tried to kill or betray him.
• Friendship and loyalty: Gao trusts Wei because Wei has consistently stood by him, while Wei’s faith in Gao survives a frightening confrontation.
• Power through information: Gao plans to counter Situ An’s greater influence by using his knowledge of future events and carefully designed fear.

Character interactions

• Gao calmly tests Wei’s trust, then explains his plans and recruits him as an informant.
• Gao assigns Fortune the role of enforcer, despite the cat’s evident confusion.
• Gao’s concern for Wan Qiu drives him to search for the boy, but Wan Qiu’s choices have already diverged from the future Gao expected.

Key events

• Gao Ming enters Room 506 and finds Wan Qiu caring for Xian Xian and Nannan, though neither Wan Qiu nor the girls remember him as they once did.
• Wan Qiu is trying to cook for the children, but his food is burned and the refrigerator’s contents are rotten. Gao Ming takes over and learns that Wan Qiu feels compelled to protect the girls because they treated him kindly.
• The girls appear as hostile, ghostly figures. Gao Ming braids Nannan’s hair, and the familiar, motherly gesture calms them. He promises to move them somewhere safer and help them find their mother.
• Gao Ming leads the children to the Spirit Medium. She recognizes him as the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal after her statue of it shatters. She explains that Situ An is holding her relatives’ children hostage to force her cooperation.
• Gao Ming proposes joining forces with her to kill Situ An, whose plan to summon the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal is destined to fail.
• Meanwhile, delivery worker Su Mo arrives with food. Gossip warns him not to return to Sishui Apartments, then reveals her four-mouthed face; Su Mo collapses.

Character developments and interactions

• Wan Qiu shows unexpected kindness and initiative, protecting the girls despite his fear and asking Gao Ming to teach him to cook. His gentler present self contrasts with the notorious criminal he may become.
• Gao Ming uses patience and care rather than force to reach the children. His tenderness toward Nannan suggests he is trying to preserve the bond with their mother, Ghost Mom.
• Xian Xian and Nannan shift from threatening Gao Ming to cautiously accepting him after he braids Nannan’s hair.
• The Spirit Medium moves from shock and suspicion to discussing an alliance once Gao Ming exposes the danger of Situ An’s plan.
• Gossip remains an unsettling observer, while Su Mo becomes her latest victim.

Significant themes

• Compassion across altered memories: Kindness persists even when characters no longer remember their past connections.
• Care as a way through fear: Gao Ming’s small, intimate gesture softens the girls’ hostility more effectively than power.
• Fate, coercion, and choice: The Spirit Medium is trapped by Situ An’s threats, while Gao Ming offers a new way to resist him.
• Contrasts between innocence and danger: Wan Qiu’s awkward domestic efforts and the children’s vulnerable longing coexist with the supernatural menace spreading through the apartments.

Key events

• Gao Ming asks the Spirit Medium to help him bring Situ An to him. She refuses to become directly involved, warning that Situ An distrusts others and has hidden plans across Hanhai’s East District. Instead, she gives Gao Ming three dangerous Killing Talismans.
• In Building A’s hidden ancestral hall, Gao Ming absorbs the blood offerings accumulated around the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal statue. This strengthens the entity within him and clarifies its karmic aspect, while also leaving him energized.
• The statue’s destruction reveals a memorial photograph of the residents of Sishui Apartments. Gao Ming realizes it could become a powerful anomaly, but says he will not feed it recklessly.
• Gao Ming visits the Underground Boxing Arena to ask someone to watch for Yan Hua and her older sister, keeping his promise to help resolve Yan Hua’s regret.
• He encourages Wan Qiu to list his wishes and promises to help fulfill them: ice cream, seeing the ocean, avoiding bullying, and experiencing love. Gao Ming plans to make him a virtual-girlfriend mini-program.
• Back at Lijing Apartments, Gao Ming creates a ghost-story game for Xuan Wen, drawing on memories of death. Zhao Xi reports that Building 2’s residents are ready; Gao Ming says he will test the game on them before using it against Situ An.
• A vision of a possible future reveals that, weeks after Gao Ming leaves the tunnel, strange tales overrun the Old City District. Though he founds the Mutual Aid Society and protects Lijing Apartments, several Building 2 neighbors betray him and offer him to a ghost.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming becomes more powerful and increasingly willing to use supernatural games against others, driven by vengeance and his determination to kill Situ An. His memories of repeated deaths cause severe distress and keep him from sleeping, but he also shows compassion toward Wan Qiu and remains committed to Yan Hua’s promise.
• The Spirit Medium maintains her distance from Gao Ming and Situ An, fearing damnation, yet offers limited help through the talismans and access to the ancestral hall.
• Wan Qiu grows more comfortable with Gao Ming, even stuttering less as he shares his hopes. Gao Ming responds with energetic encouragement and practical promises.
• Fortune is terrified by the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal’s power, while Gao Ming tries to reassure him.
• Xuan Wen becomes the central figure in Gao Ming’s new game, repeatedly dying and losing her memories while persistently reaching the tunnel’s exit.
• Zhao Xi helps prepare Building 2 for Gao Ming’s test, setting up the chapter’s ominous betrayal.

Significant themes

• Revenge and justice: Gao Ming frames his plans as fair repayment for past harm, though his methods risk making him cruel.
• Trauma and survival: Repeated death memories haunt Gao Ming, while Wan Qiu’s wishes show the possibility of reclaiming ordinary happiness.
• Promises and responsibility: Gao Ming continues trying to honor his commitments to Yan Hua and care for Wan Qiu.
• Trust and betrayal: The future vision foreshadows that Gao Ming’s efforts to protect a community may end in betrayal by those he protects.
• Power and moral restraint: Gao Ming gains strength and the ability to create dangerous ghost-story games, but recognizes that using it carelessly could unleash greater danger.

Plot points

• Gao Ming sends Wei Dayou his game proposal, then begins his first game in Building 2 at night. He uses the Fear Puppet’s memorial photograph to spread supernatural shadows through the building, then combines it with the Sishui Apartments photograph to pull the whole building into the Shadow World.
• He brings Gossip out of her photograph to help carry out his plan. Then he fully releases the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God from his Heart Chamber, creating a terrifying presence in the building. The separation leaves Gao Ming overwhelmed by painful emotions, suggesting the two are deeply connected.
• Phobia’s influence makes residents see their worst fears: Zhao Yuanyuan sees her dead younger son, Li Li imagines him threatening her and her child, and other neighbors encounter ghosts drawn from their guilt and grief. The frightened residents gather on the fifth floor.
• Gao Ming has planted a blood-written rule near the stairs: one living person must be sacrificed for another to leave. Wang Kuisheng uses it to turn the neighbors against Gao Ming and An’an, demanding they help destroy the giant ghost.
• Gao Ming gives the residents an opportunity to trust one another and fight back. Instead, several neighbors—including people close to Zhao Xi—agree to betray them. As Gao Ming, An’an, and Zhao Xi lead the way downstairs, the men shove Gao Ming and Zhao Xi toward the Flesh-and-Blood Idol and declare them sacrifices.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming is controlled and deliberate, using fear to expose the residents’ character. He gives them a chance to choose solidarity, but accepts their betrayal without hesitation.
• Zhao Xi is again rejected by the people he has supported. His adoptive mother and sister-in-law offer him no warning or defense, deepening his sense of isolation.
• Wang Kuisheng reveals himself as self-serving and cowardly: rather than confront danger, he sacrifices others to save himself.
• Gossip appears curious, sociable, and willing to help Gao Ming.
• An’an remains close to Gao Ming and quietly points out that those who have done nothing wrong need not fear the dead.
• The neighbors’ conversation shifts from panic to scapegoating and finally to collective violence; even family ties fail to overcome their fear and self-interest.

Significant themes

• Fear exposes character: supernatural visions reveal residents’ guilt, grief, and anxieties, while their choices show who they are beneath the panic.
• Betrayal and moral responsibility: the residents are given a chance to cooperate but choose to sacrifice others instead.
• Isolation and abandonment: Zhao Xi is excluded by both neighbors and family despite his past kindness.
• Fate, despair, and retribution: Gao Ming’s opening reflections frame the chapter’s violence as part of a painful, seemingly predetermined future—and his final words cast the residents’ betrayal as their own choice.

Plot points and events

• Gao Ming is pierced by the Flesh-and-Blood Idol’s blood threads and collapses, while Zhao Xi is escorted out of Building 2. Wang Kuisheng tries to sacrifice the child An’an in order to escape, but Gong Xi intervenes and kills him.
• Gossip announces a new rule: the neighbors can leave only if they persuade Zhao Xi to return, and whoever succeeds can take his place. The residents lie to Zhao Xi and threaten his family, eventually forcing him to turn back despite having escaped.
• With Zhao Xi back inside, the increasingly terrified neighbors decide to choose multiple sacrifices at once. Their arguments turn into a violent hunt among residents, while Gao Ming watches without intervening.
• Yao Yuan, a gravely ill retired police-academy teacher, tries to protect the vulnerable. Gao Ming eventually rescues Zhao Xi, Yao Yuan, and Zhao Xi’s adoptive mother from the mob. Those who die become shadows, feeding the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God.
• Gao Ming learns more about the Ghost God’s four aspects and gains strength. He senses that the Shadow World is responding more favorably to him, and a new black-and-white photograph appears with altered contents.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Xi sees the neighbors’ cruelty clearly and initially chooses to leave with An’an. He returns only after they threaten his adoptive mother and Li Li, sacrificing his chance at freedom to protect them.
• Gao Ming deliberately lets events unfold so Zhao Xi can witness the residents’ true nature. His restraint reflects both his strategy and his hope that Zhao Xi may become a genuine ally.
• Gong Xi acts independently of Gao Ming, punishing Wang Kuisheng for trying to sacrifice An’an.
• The neighbors abandon cooperation and humanity as fear takes hold, turning on one another to improve their own chances of survival.
• Yao Yuan risks himself to defend the weak, while Zhao Xi’s adoptive mother stands out for refusing to join the neighbors’ cruelty and for her sincere faith in the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal.

Significant themes

• Fear and moral collapse: The residents’ terror drives them from selfish bargaining to violence and murder.
• Sacrifice and coercion: Zhao Xi is made responsible for others’ survival, while the neighbors treat vulnerable people as expendable.
• Lost innocence and earned trust: Gao Ming believes that kindness alone cannot overcome a brutal world; Zhao Xi must see its cruelty before he can become a dependable ally.
• Power and consequence: The Ghost God’s growing strength and the Shadow World’s changing response suggest that Gao Ming’s choices are reshaping his position within it.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming finds that Teacher Yao’s photograph has changed into a Commemorative Photo. Its split image shows Yao as both a dying, anguished person and a powerful, shadowed figure. The new inscription describes being reborn and leaving suffering behind. Gao Ming decides to protect it, though he does not yet understand how to use it.
• Gao Ming leaves Zhao Xi and An’an behind in the Shadow World, tasking them with planning for Lijing Apartments as a future stronghold. He returns home alone, hides his traces, and avoids drawing the Investigation Bureau’s attention.
• After sleeping, Gao Ming finds Wan Qiu exercising with Yan Hua’s self-punishment workout chart. He joins him, hoping to improve his own physical strength, and reflects that the dangerous Qing Ge remains a target he may need to eliminate.
• Gao Ming takes Wan Qiu to the stormy coast so the boy can face his fears and express the pain he has kept inside. Gao Ming shouts defiance at fate; a wave knocks them down, but the experience leaves Wan Qiu smiling and more willing to speak.
• Gao Ming then takes Wan Qiu to the East District. He expects Situ An to appear publicly that afternoon and weighs the risks of attacking him in front of a crowd. Gao Ming believes he must kill Situ An himself and trap him in his Heart Chamber, but plans around the approaching crisis: Strange Tales will spiral out of control in four weeks.

Character developments

• Gao Ming is increasingly resolved to shape events rather than merely survive them. He begins building strength, accepts that his actions may turn the city against him, and focuses on surviving the next four weeks.
• Wan Qiu shows discipline and determination through his workout. At the ocean, he confronts his fear, begins opening up, and smiles for the first time around Gao Ming.
• Zhao Xi and An’an are positioned to help establish a safe base, though they remain in the Shadow World for now.
• Situ An remains Gao Ming’s central target; his public standing and influence make an attack especially dangerous.

Significant themes

• Agency against fate: Gao Ming urges Wan Qiu—and himself—to take control of their lives despite overwhelming circumstances.
• Trust and recovery: Gao Ming supports Wan Qiu through action and encouragement, helping him feel less alone.
• Preparation and sacrifice: Gao Ming makes plans for a coming disaster while accepting the risks and consequences of intervening.
• Power and appearances: Situ An’s reputation protects him, complicating Gao Ming’s pursuit of justice.

Character interactions

• Gao Ming assigns Zhao Xi and An’an responsibility for planning Lijing Apartments as a stronghold.
• He bonds with Wan Qiu through exercise, a difficult trip to the stormy sea, and encouragement to voice his bottled-up feelings.
• Gao Ming’s reflections on Qing Ge and Situ An show how his personal relationships with his enemies shape his plans.

Plot points and events

• Gao Ming and Wan Qiu attend a high-society charity event, but strict security keeps them far from Situ An. Gao Ming is focused on killing him and trapping his soul in the Execution House, though the daytime and crowded venue make an attack difficult.
• As Situ An gives his speech, two men charge toward him while a pale arm reaches from backstage and attacks him. The very public assault appears staged to make the reporters witness Situ An being injured.
• Gao Ming follows a suspicious masked man into a restroom and is pulled into the Shadow World. Hidden nearby, he overhears the man reporting to Doctor Lu: he had arranged the disturbance, used the ghost A Mei’er to attack Situ An, and sent children from Hande Private Academy to the East District Dog Pit.
• Doctor Lu refuses to release A Mei’er, declaring that his patients are part of his collection. When the man confronts him, Doctor Lu kills him with a scalpel, and the shadows consume the body.
• Gao Ming recognizes Doctor Lu as the doctor who repeatedly killed him during his earlier deaths. He holds back from attacking, hoping to learn more about Situ An’s plans. He connects the Dog Pit to an old case involving a madman who abducted children.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming remains intent on killing Situ An but shows restraint, choosing to follow the suspicious man and preserve a chance to investigate the Dog Pit.
• Doctor Lu is revealed as a ruthless collector who manipulates others and kills a collaborator without hesitation. His familiar, sinister presence also links him directly to Gao Ming’s past deaths.
• Situ An presents himself as a polished charity leader, but the attack and Doctor Lu’s dealings suggest he is cooperating with Shadow World forces and may be using the assault for a larger purpose.
• The masked man has carried out Doctor Lu’s orders, including putting children in danger, but begs unsuccessfully to save A Mei’er. His confrontation with Doctor Lu ends in murder.
• Wan Qiu accompanies Gao Ming to the event, then follows his instruction to wait outside while he investigates.

Significant themes

• Charity and deception: The event’s generous public image contrasts with the hidden violence and exploitation surrounding it.
• Manipulation and performance: The attack on Situ An may be designed for public effect, raising questions about his ambitions and the Shadow World’s intentions.
• Cruelty and possession: Doctor Lu treats patients as collectibles, while vulnerable children and ghosts are used as tools.
• Restraint in pursuit of vengeance: Gao Ming sets aside an immediate chance to act so he can uncover more of the plot.

Plot and events

• After leaving the venue, Gao Ming finds Wan Qiu waiting in the rain and buys him milk tea. He calls Xuan Wen with a provocative question about killing eight female leads; she hangs up, but Gao Ming claims he has made a strong impression on her.
• Wei Dayou calls to report that he has joined the Queen Investigation Office after surviving an anomaly incident. He has accidentally bragged to Deputy Director Qing Ge and is being taken on a mission to the East District Temporary Shelter.
• Gao Ming recognizes Qing Ge’s danger and learns the mission concerns the shelter at Lame Bay Village. He warns Wei Dayou not to enter the cellar, then sends Wan Qiu home and heads to the shelter himself.
• At the shelter, Qing Ge and the investigators meet Doctor Lu. Lu reveals that the operation is meant to feed displaced people to something in the Black Pit, then retrieve children’s bodies from it. He orders twice as many victims as before.
• While the team leaves, a strange patient appears in the Clinic. Doctor Lu brings him into a dark consultation room, where the patient reveals that his horror games—and the murders and killers he designed—have become real.
• The patient is Gao Ming. His aura turns ominous, blood seeps from his chest, and eight ghostly arms emerge. He confronts Doctor Lu: “You’ve killed me so many times. Don’t I look familiar to you?”

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Ming acts protective toward Wan Qiu and warns Wei Dayou about the mission. His final appearance reveals that he is confronting Doctor Lu as a supernatural, apparently familiar figure.
• Wan Qiu follows Gao Ming’s example and listens attentively, though he does not fully understand the exchange.
• Wei Dayou is nervous about his new position and the dangerous mission, but trusts Gao Ming’s advice.
• Qing Ge is shown as a young but influential and dangerous deputy director, apparently backed by Situ An.
• Doctor Lu presents himself as a caring physician, but his willingness to sacrifice displaced people exposes his callousness. He also appears to collect unusual patients.
• Gao Ming and Doctor Lu meet in a tense, deceptive consultation: Lu tries to establish control and trust, while Gao Ming’s revelation transforms the encounter into a threat.

Significant themes

• Reality blending with fiction: Gao Ming’s game designs and imagined killers appear to be manifesting in the real world.
• Institutional cruelty and power: The planned sacrifice of vulnerable residents shows how authorities can treat human lives as expendable.
• Identity and recognition: Gao Ming’s closing question hints at repeated deaths, past encounters, or a hidden connection with Doctor Lu.
• Knowledge and survival: Gao Ming’s warnings and prior knowledge help others navigate dangers they do not yet understand.

The chapter is an author’s announcement rather than part of the story.

• Key events: The author says the novel is going premium, with six updates scheduled to arrive after midnight. They plan to write intensively and ask readers to support the official release.
• Character development and interactions: No story characters or plot interactions appear. The author speaks directly to readers, thanks them, and sends them a heart.
• Themes: Reader support, gratitude, and excitement about the novel’s upcoming premium release.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming confronts Doctor Lu in the Clinic and overwhelms him with the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God. Lu’s psychological manipulation proves ineffective against Gao Ming, whose repeated experiences of death have made him resistant to mental torment.
• Lu tries to flee through a second-floor window, but Gao Ming pursues him into the storm. He captures Lu and takes both his Flesh-and-Blood Heart and Divine Heart, dragging him into the Execution House within his Heart Chamber.
• The Execution House tortures Lu until his death-memory fragment disappears. The Ghost God turns Lu’s blood and memories into a chain for the chamber, and Gao Ming feels that another restraint on him has loosened.
• Four patients freed from Lu’s posthumous photo approach Gao Ming. He promises to treat them and help them leave the shadows. The group includes A Mei’er, who believes she is a fish; Wu Shu, a Mystery Analyst from the Xinhu Investigation Bureau; and a young couple.
• Gao Ming discovers urgent messages from Wei Dayou: villagers sent into the Black Pit have not returned, and Wei may be forced to enter next. Gao Ming rushes there, intent on confronting Qing Ge and later dealing with Situ An.

Character developments

• Gao Ming shows both extreme violence and a sincere desire to save people. He is still shaped by grief, betrayal, and despair, but now sees destroying death memories as a path toward freeing himself from his nightmares.
• Doctor Lu is exposed as a cowardly collector who killed people while preserving their illnesses. His defeat turns him into part of the Execution House’s chain of punishment.
• The four patients are freed from Lu’s control and begin following Gao Ming, though their illnesses and histories remain to be explored.

Significant themes

• Trauma, death, and liberation: Gao Ming’s repeated suffering has hardened him, yet he hopes to break free by confronting and destroying the nightmares tied to his past.
• Care versus exploitation: Lu treats patients as specimens; Gao Ming vows to treat them as people and help them recover.
• Justice and retribution: The Execution House converts the suffering Lu inflicted into punishment for Lu himself.
• Madness as a reflection of society: The photo’s inscription suggests that the city’s inhabitants and the era itself are deeply diseased.

Character interactions

• Gao Ming accuses Lu of betraying his trust and refuses to let him escape, turning Lu’s own methods of exploiting patients against him.
• The rescued patients respond to Gao Ming’s promise of care by following him from the shadows.
• Wei Dayou’s messages redirect Gao Ming from the Clinic to the Black Pit, setting up the next confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• Gao Ming reaches the abandoned area near Lame Bay Village and secretly witnesses Qing Ge’s East District Investigators forcing shelter residents toward a mysterious cellar known as the Black Pit.
• Qing Ge argues that sacrificing some people may prevent a much larger disaster. He orders the rookies to help bring villagers out; when they hesitate, he has three of them thrown into the pit. Wei Dayou refuses to cooperate and is pushed in after them, tasked with finding children’s bodies.
• Wei sends Gao Ming a final warning: “Danger. Run!” Gao Ming enters the cellar after sending in the Fear Puppet, which soon loses contact.
• Inside, Gao Ming loses both sight and hearing. The cellar seems to consume light and sound, leaving him to navigate through touch and smell. As he feels his way back toward the entrance, he touches an unfamiliar set of cold fingers.

Character developments and interactions

• Qing Ge emerges as ruthless and committed to utilitarian sacrifice, presenting the deaths as necessary to save more people. He clashes with Wei Dayou, whose belief that power should protect the vulnerable leads him to resist.
• Wei Dayou stands apart from the other rookies: while three eventually try to flee, he openly challenges Qing Ge and is forced into the cellar.
• Gao Ming remains cautious and observant, but acts on Wei’s warning and enters the Black Pit himself. When deprived of his senses, he deliberately steadies himself and adapts rather than panicking.
• The veteran Investigators support Qing Ge and restrain the rookies, revealing a stark divide between the team’s hierarchy and the rookies’ doubts.

Significant themes

• The ethics of sacrifice: Qing Ge frames cruelty as necessary for the greater good, while Wei Dayou questions whether power has any purpose if it does not protect people.
• Institutional obedience and moral resistance: The Investigators’ discipline enables both effective action and unquestioning brutality.
• Isolation and survival: The Black Pit strips Gao Ming of ordinary ways to perceive and connect with the world, forcing him to rely on his body and composure.
• Unresolved horror: The pit’s capacity, the missing children, and the identity of the presence Gao Ming touches remain unexplained.