Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin and Luo Feng refused to eat the lamb as the villagers gathered around You Jiang, and Luo Feng warned that there might be more poison cats. Luo Bin then found an unfinished message on the Underground Room wall suggesting the victims had not been sick, leaving him to wonder whether Qiang Village’s danger reached the people on the mountain.

• Old Kong, He Gui, and the villagers ate lamb while Luo Feng and Luo Bin stuck to flatbread and water.
• Luo Feng questioned whether there was more than one poison cat and urged Luo Bin to watch for suspicious people offering food.
• Luo Feng warned the crowd that only You Jiang and Chen Zhi seemed safe, and You Jiang told everyone to burn meat others had handled.
• Luo Bin noticed an unfinished message on the wall reading, “We aren't sick at all!” and Luo Feng said the poison cats had poisoned the victims.
• Luo Bin suspected the message had a deeper meaning and searched the Underground Room for another clue.

Luo Bin and Luo Feng suspected that a poison cat had exposed Qiang Village to evil spirits, but decided to leave further investigation to others. After You Jiang secretly ate a sheep’s brain while watching Luo Bin, the group woke to a disturbing display of skinned sheep, and He Gui ordered everyone to hunt and prepare to leave.

• Luo Feng concluded that a poison cat had caused a villager to expose Qiang Village, while Luo Bin suspected the village’s clues pointed to a shared secret among evil spirits, Two-Legged Sheep, and poison cats.
• Luo Bin and Luo Feng agreed to stop searching the village themselves and leave the investigation to others, wary that the Able-Bodied Team would be endangered by the poison cats.
• You Jiang secretly pried open a Two-Legged Sheep’s skull, ate its brain, and tried to provoke Luo Bin, but then fell asleep.
• Luo Bin slept through the night and woke to find six sheep arranged on their knees, with their hides peeled back and brains displayed between their hooves.
• He Gui ordered everyone to be cautious, sent a group to search for the missing team, and told the others to hunt sheep so they could leave Qiang Village soon.

Luo Bin feared that his evil-spirit instincts had taken over while he slept, and he volunteered to search for the missing people with You Jiang. As they left the cave, Luo Bin resolved to let his worsening loss of control become a weapon against You Jiang.

• Luo Bin noticed his clean fingernails and growing gray nail, and suspected his instincts had controlled him during the night.
• You Jiang proposed disguising the hunters in Two-Legged Sheep skins and Ram-Horn Hats, then suggested that he and Luo Shan search for the missing people.
• He Gui approved You Jiang's plan despite Luo Feng's objections, and Luo Bin insisted on joining You Jiang.
• Luo Bin told Luo Feng to trust his steady heart, though his hands were trembling and he felt increasingly unable to control himself.
• As he followed You Jiang out of the cave, Luo Bin decided to let his loss of control hit harder, while You Jiang urged him to eat meat for strength.

Zhong Zhicheng learned that You Jiang was killing and eating people, but prioritized preventing panic and preparing to capture him over rescuing Gu Ya. Meanwhile, Yu Mingxin held Gu Ya captive and wrote down eight names, hinting at a plan to target Luo Shan and others.

• Zhong Zhicheng saw the human meat in You Jiang's Underground Room and realized You Jiang was a murderer with an accomplice.
• Zhong Zhicheng told Zhang Li to keep quiet about Gu Ya's abduction and said You Jiang must die, while he prepared to capture him when the Able-Bodied Team returned.
• Zhong Zhicheng ordered Zhang Li to stay close to him and threatened to lock him up if he frightened the villagers further.
• Yu Mingxin kept Gu Ya bound to a bloodstained wooden horse and blamed Luo Feng's family for his daughter's death.
• Yu Mingxin wrote eight names, including Luo Shan and Zhang Jun, while telling Gu Ya that something good would happen.

Luo Bin led You Jiang away from the village and fought him on a looping path, where his abnormal strength revealed that he was not ordinary. You Jiang recognized him as the evil spirit the villagers feared, just as Luo Bin prepared to attack again and noticed something was wrong.

• Luo Bin led You Jiang past the fourth Resting Place and stopped at the looping path, where You Jiang confronted him.
• You Jiang attacked with two knives, but Luo Bin blocked his strike and crushed his wrist with his grip.
• Luo Bin’s excitement grew as he realized his strength was abnormal, and he tore off You Jiang’s left hand with his fingernails.
• You Jiang screamed that Luo Bin was the evil spirit among them and feared that he could not be killed.
• Luo Bin moved to charge at You Jiang, but his expression changed when he noticed something was wrong.

Luo Bin escaped You Jiang by exploiting his fear, then vomited up the meat and lamp oil that had triggered his Evil Spirit impulses. After cleaning the scene, Luo Bin falsified the detour’s anchor point and left You Jiang trapped in the woods.

• Luo Bin pretended he could pursue You Jiang and frightened him into retreating past a tree that marked the detour’s starting point.
• You Jiang fled deeper into the woods, while Luo Bin stayed behind and waited until he was out of sight.
• Luo Bin swallowed several oil packets, vomited up raw meat and lamp oil, and realized that eating the meat had caused his daytime Evil Spirit transformation.
• You Jiang stopped on a distant hillside, afraid to go farther or return while he listened to Luo Bin’s laughter.
• Luo Bin buried the blood and vomit, carved “Qiang” into the tree he had pointed out, obscured the mark, and headed back.

After returning to the fourth resting place, Luo Bin was nearly tricked into opening the door by Two-Legged Sheep disguised as Luo Feng. He drove them back and resolved to warn his parents that the password had been compromised and return to Qiang Village soon.

• Luo Bin reached the wooden house at the fourth resting place and lit its oil lamp as night approached.
• A figure disguised as Luo Feng urged Luo Bin to open the door, then used the password Three Thousand Seven Hundred Thirty-One to make him falter.
• Luo Bin recognized the impostor's eyes and realized several Two-Legged Sheep were attacking the door.
• Luo Bin thrust his billhook toward the disguised Two-Legged Sheep, forced the door shut, and secured the bolt against their blows.
• Luo Bin decided to tell his parents the password was no longer safe and hoped to return to Qiang Village the next day.

Luo Bin returned to Qiang Village after surviving a night at a Resting Place and told the Able-Bodied Team a partly fabricated account of You Jiang’s disappearance. The exhausted survivors faced the possibility that You Jiang and several others were lost, while Gu Yiren and Chen Xianxian endured danger elsewhere.

• Chen Xianxian suffered through an assault while plotting revenge against Zhong Zhicheng and Luo Feng and planning to escape the village.
• Gu Yiren hid in a tree hollow, but her oil lamp flickered out as the thing hunting her drew near.
• Luo Bin left the Resting Place at dawn, returned to Qiang Village, and found Zeng Shi’s remains near the entrance.
• Luo Feng welcomed Luo Bin in the underground chamber, where only twelve people remained and six members of the Able-Bodied Team were missing.
• Luo Bin told He Gui that You Jiang had been attacked by three Two-Legged Sheep and handed over You Jiang’s severed hand, mixing truth with lies in his account.

After the Two-Legged Sheep attack left the Able-Bodied Team shaken and sickened, most of the survivors left Qiang Village while Luo Feng and Luo Bin stayed behind to investigate. Luo Feng uncovered a clue suggesting a third presence in the village, while Luo Bin concealed that he was an evil spirit.

• Luo Feng explained that six people wearing sheepskins had joined the Two-Legged Sheep in attacking the group, then transformed into sheep themselves.
• The survivors decided to leave Qiang Village, and He Gui led most of them toward the second resting place while Luo Feng and Luo Bin stayed behind.
• Luo Bin told Luo Feng that You Jiang had tried to kill him on the detour and that he had torn off You Jiang's hand, concealing his own nature as an evil spirit.
• Luo Feng interpreted the strange Qiang character on the wall as evidence of a third thing in Qiang Village and suspected it had targeted whoever discovered the village's secrets.
• Luo Feng drove his knife into the wall beneath the character, piercing the space within its written line.

Luo Bin realized the information in the cave might expose them to the Hunter, so he urged Luo Feng to stop investigating and leave. They decided to pass the discovery to He Gui and Zhong Zhicheng, while Luo Bin warned his father about a danger near their yard.

• Luo Bin considered whether the mysterious 厶 character referred to the Hunter and feared that learning more could make them targets.
• Luo Feng suggested the murdered person might have discovered how to leave Qiang Village and Cabinet Mountain, but Luo Bin told him to stop investigating.
• Luo Bin asked Luo Feng to trust him, and Luo Feng recognized that pursuing the information could trigger a hidden danger.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin decided to tell He Gui and Zhong Zhicheng about the cave's information and let them decide what to do.
• Luo Bin told Luo Feng that nothing could enter their yard and warned him to pretend he had seen nothing, then they left.

Luo Feng and Luo Bin escaped Qiang Village with a warning from the Able-Bodied Team, then reunited with the surviving men at the second resting place. He Gui announced that Luo Feng had found a lead suggesting Qiang Village was not simply a place where everyone died, and ordered the group to stay vigilant overnight.

• Luo Feng and Luo Bin left Qiang Village and encountered six members of the Able-Bodied Team, including Old Kong, who urged them not to return and bleated like a sheep.
• Luo Feng explained that Old Kong had joined the hunt to help his family get more mutton, and the pair passed the Third Resting Place, where they glimpsed a dark shape and a figure watching them.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin reached the second resting place, where the Able-Bodied Team initially treated them with suspicion until Luo Feng gave the password.
• Luo Feng privately spoke with He Gui in the Wooden House, and He Gui later told the group that the writing beneath the character for Qiang contained a lead about Qiang Village.
• He Gui ordered the men to remain awake and watch for danger, then asked Luo Bin and Luo Feng to stay in the Wooden House with him.

Luo Bin learned how a lamp’s protection applied to tents and heard how a mysterious outsider had died and become an evil spirit. He reconsidered Gu Yiren’s warnings and decided she was essential to finding a way out of Cabinet Mountain Village.

• He Gui explained that tents counted as dwellings protected by Oil Lamps, while a car did not, and recalled an outsider who had tried to escape in one.
• He Gui and Luo Feng told Luo Bin that the outsider had died at the village entrance with the nail of his left little finger removed, then became an evil spirit after his body vanished from the flooded Morgue.
• Luo Bin connected the outsider’s death and Gu Yiren’s warnings about being hunted, wondering whether she and he were different from other people who could affect the mountain.
• He Gui and Luo Feng encouraged Luo Bin to rest while they kept watch, and Luo Bin lay down to continue thinking.
• Luo Bin decided he could not leave Gu Yiren behind and that she was indispensable to escaping Cabinet Mountain Village.

Luo Bin dreamed of a past incident involving Luo Shan, Zhang Jun, and the Carpenter, then woke as the group prepared to return to Guishan Village. At the village entrance, Zhong Zhicheng confronted the returning men and demanded to know where You Jiang and the others were.

• Luo Bin dreamed that Luo Shan opposed a plan to abduct a family's daughter, then warned the Carpenter to go home while he was repairing the Morgue.
• Luo Bin woke, joined the group, and focused on finding a way to deceive the Hunter and protect Gu Yiren.
• The group traveled back toward Guishan Village, and Luo Bin anticipated having to explain You Jiang's absence to Zhong Zhicheng.
• Zhong Zhicheng and more than a hundred armed villagers surrounded the returning men at the village entrance.
• Zhong Zhicheng questioned He Gui about the missing half of the group and demanded to know where You Jiang was.

Luo Bin returned to the village expecting to reunite with Gu Ya, but she was missing, and Zhang Yunling's reaction suggested the danger around You Jiang had not ended. When Luo Bin found Zhang Li, Zhang Li broke down and revealed that You Jiang had an accomplice.

• Luo Feng told the villagers that You Jiang and the other missing men would not return, then led everyone to Zhong Zhicheng's home to discuss what had happened.
• Luo Bin rushed home and found Zhang Yunling there, but Gu Ya was nowhere to be seen.
• Zhang Yunling realized Luo Feng and Luo Shan had acted against You Jiang and feared that Gu Ya might expose her involvement.
• Luo Bin hurried to the Bamboo Grove Courtyard and asked Zhang Li where his mother was.
• Zhang Li slapped himself repeatedly and apologized, saying he had not known You Jiang had an accomplice.

After Zhang Li returned without Gu Ya, Luo Bin deduced that an unknown person had watched his family investigating You Jiang and had taken Gu Ya for reasons still unclear. As Zhang Li went to check on Gu Yiren, Luo Bin began questioning why Cabinet Mountain Village trapped people and what purpose it served.

• Luo Bin stopped Zhang Li from striking himself and listened as Zhang Li explained that someone had knocked him unconscious and taken Gu Ya.
• Luo Bin deduced that the person who spared Zhang Li was probably not You Jiang's accomplice, but someone who had watched Luo Bin and Luo Feng investigate You Jiang's House.
• Zhang Li described meeting Zhong Zhicheng, and Luo Bin decided the Village Chief's refusal to search for Gu Ya showed no goodwill.
• Luo Bin rejected Zhang Li's idea of searching the Village and sent him up the Mountain to check on Gu Yiren and reassure her.
• Luo Bin reflected on Cabinet Mountain Village's effect on its residents and wondered why Cabinet Mountain trapped people and maintained order.

Luo Bin used Rewind to search for whoever might have followed him and discovered a suspicious man in ragged clothes near the village road. After Luo Feng returned, Luo Bin told him everything, and Luo Feng urged him to consider who Xiaoshan might have offended.

• Luo Bin returned home and used Rewind to inspect his trip to You Jiang's House, finding no sign that anyone had followed him.
• Luo Bin rewound his trip to Zhang Li's home and recognized Zhang Jun's companions watching him, but they had not followed him.
• Luo Bin noticed an inconspicuous man in ragged clothes in two places along the road and wondered whether the man had tracked him.
• Luo Feng returned home, and Luo Bin recounted what Zhang Li had said and his suspicions about the man.
• Luo Feng struck the table, then told Luo Bin to think carefully about who Xiaoshan might have offended.

Luo Bin told Luo Feng that he could not remember Luo Shan’s past, and the two considered possible leads into Luo Shan’s trouble and Gu Ya’s disappearance. Luo Bin realized his dream might have been a buried memory, but when he went to tell Luo Feng, he found a corpse-like man with a jade blade following him.

• Luo Bin admitted that he remembered only waking in the hospital, and Luo Feng concluded that neither he nor Luo Bin knew what trouble Luo Shan had caused.
• Luo Feng identified the beggar-like man as Yu Mingxin, whose daughter had drowned in the river, and suggested questioning Luo Shan’s former disreputable friends.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin ate plain noodles, then Luo Feng told him to rest while Zhong Zhicheng handled Qiang Village’s affairs.
• Luo Bin recalled a dream in which Luo Shan had warned a carpenter not to leave his daughter alone, and suspected it was a buried memory connected to Gu Ya’s disappearance.
• Luo Bin went to tell Luo Feng, but saw a tall, corpse-like man in a python robe standing behind him with a jade tablet that resembled a cleaver.

Luo Bin and Luo Feng set out to find Luo Bin’s mother, but they found Zhou Xi’s mutilated body in the village and realized the killing connected to Luo Bin’s dream. Luo Bin was left fearing that the dream had foretold Zhou Xi’s death.

• Luo Bin avoided discussing his dream while the Hunter watched him and Luo Feng, then went to sleep and woke the next morning to find no Slay Character in the courtyard.
• Luo Bin told Luo Feng about his dream, and Luo Feng angrily denounced the man who had harmed his family before they left to search for Luo Bin’s mother.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin found Zhong Zhicheng and the villagers gathered around a naked, mutilated corpse, and the villagers suspected You Jiang had returned.
• Luo Bin refused to blame You Jiang and argued that he and Luo Feng needed to find his mother, while the villagers dismissed his claims and criticized him.
• Luo Bin recognized the corpse as Zhou Xi and remembered that Zhou Xi had appeared in his dream, where he had urged the others to take Yu Mingxin’s daughter for their amusement.

After Luo Bin identified Yu Mingxin as Zhou Xi’s killer, he and Luo Feng rushed to Yu Mingxin’s home but found it empty. Luo Bin concluded Yu Mingxin was taking revenge on everyone who had abused his daughter and feared that more victims were in danger.

• Luo Bin identified Yu Mingxin as the likely killer of Zhou Xi, whose body had been mutilated.
• Yu Mingxin bound Gu Ya and five other captives near his daughter Yu Xi’s memorial portrait, then killed Wu Qu while accusing the men of destroying Yu Xi’s life.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin hurried to Yu Mingxin’s courtyard, followed by Zhong Zhicheng and the villagers.
• Luo Feng searched the rooms and the underground room, but Yu Mingxin was gone.
• Luo Bin reasoned that Yu Mingxin had begun killing because he and Luo Feng had returned, and feared he would target everyone involved in Yu Xi’s abuse.
• Luo Bin realized Yu Xi had jumped into the river after being violated, and that her death had driven Yu Mingxin mad.

Luo Bin realized Yu Mingxin was hiding in You Jiang’s home and rushed to save Gu Ya, whom Yu Mingxin was tormenting to punish the men who had assaulted his daughter. The chapter ended as Luo Bin smashed through the gate and confronted Yu Mingxin.

• Luo Feng ordered Luo Shan and Zhong Zhicheng to search the Logging Forest while he gathered the Able-Bodied Team.
• Luo Bin used Rewind to conclude that Yu Mingxin was still in the village and had not dumped Zhou Xi’s body from the mountain.
• Yu Mingxin continued killing Wu Qu and threatened the remaining men, then began tearing Gu Ya’s clothes when they refused to assault her.
• Luo Bin realized Yu Mingxin was likely hiding at You Jiang’s home and raced there after hearing Gu Ya’s sobs.
• Luo Bin crashed through the gate of You Jiang’s home and shouted at Yu Mingxin as Gu Ya opened her eyes.