Chapter Summaries

Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu investigated the Dream Ghost’s victims in Happy Community, learning that residents’ nightmares had grown more frequent and that the first known death happened eight years earlier. The chapter ended with Auntie Wang revealing that the man who died in apartment 309 had kept the corpse of someone from apartment 903 in his refrigerator.

• Qi Wu set up rooster-blood talismans in Chu Qingjiu’s room, then comforted him when he trembled with fear of the Dream Ghost.
• Lin Ran, Yu Nian, and other players discussed the attacks and agreed to investigate residents with recent problems.
• Qi Wu and Chu Qingjiu visited Auntie Wang in apartment 408, where Chu Qingjiu questioned her about her nightmares.
• Auntie Wang said her nightmares had become nearly nightly over the past two years and described a tall, thin man in them.
• Auntie Wang identified apartment 404’s former resident as another nightmare victim and said the first death occurred eight years ago in apartment 309.
• Auntie Wang revealed that the man in apartment 309 had kept the corpse of the person he killed, who had lived in apartment 903.

Qi Wu and the others uncovered that Happy Community had been built over a former burial site for miners, while a possessed resident of 309 killed the resident of 903. That night, Yu Nian was trapped in her darkened room with a ghost and received a message warning that the other players would not reach her in time.

• Qi Wu questioned Auntie Wang and learned that residents in units 309 and 903 had changed frequently, supporting the theory that the Dream Ghost had existed for eight years.
• Qi Wu and the others found records of a nearby mine used to bury miners killed in accidents, whose auspicious grounds had been ruined by construction of Happy Community.
• The six players saw the grotesquely folded body of the resident of 903 and learned from surveillance footage that the resident of 309 had killed him while acting as if possessed.
• Yu Nian stayed alone in her room, where a ghost knocked at her bedroom door, and she covered the door with paper talismans.
• The lights went out despite Yu Nian's precautions, and her phone displayed a message saying the other players would not reach her in time.

After Yu Nian was killed in her room, Chu Qingjiu discovered that the ghost had entered through the toilet and suspected a Ghost Tamer was controlling it. He set out to check whether someone he had in mind was responsible.

• Yu Nian died after a ghost entered her heavily talismaned room, leaving her body gruesomely stretched and twisted.
• The other players arrived and reacted with horror, while Lin Ran clung to Zhao Yang for comfort.
• Chu Qingjiu examined the burned talismans and found that the bathroom was filled with resentment.
• Chu Qingjiu identified the toilet as the ghost's entrance and concluded that a weak Vengeful Ghost had killed Yu Nian.
• Chu Qingjiu suspected someone was controlling the Vengeful Ghost and told Qi Wu he needed to check whether it was someone he knew.

Chu Qingjiu encountered and killed a sinister double who warned that Qi Wu was in danger. He hurried toward the formation eye, suspecting Qi Wu had been surrounded by his own impostors.

• Chu Qingjiu saw his reflection smile, then the glass shattered and his sinister double attacked him.
• Chu Qingjiu used the Puppet Threads to control the double, who warned him that Qi Wu was vulnerable to another version of himself.
• The double said he loved both Qi Wu and Chu Qingjiu, but Chu Qingjiu killed him anyway and went to find Qi Wu.
• Chu Qingjiu recalled that he had separated from Qi Wu to investigate Li Zihao and keep his identity and plans secret.
• Chu Qingjiu suspected that Qi Wu had been surrounded by impostors and hurried toward the formation eye to help him.

Qi Wu fought an identical, seemingly tireless version of himself, who claimed he would take Chu Qingjiu for himself. When Chu Qingjiu arrived, he recognized the impostor and killed him, leaving the real Qi Wu bewildered by how decisively Chu Qingjiu acted.

• Qi Wu confronted another Qi Wu as the community's red threads streamed toward its center, and the duplicate attacked while growing stronger as the real Qi Wu weakened.
• The duplicate told Qi Wu that he would belong to Chu Qingjiu alone once Qi Wu was dead, while Qi Wu called him a fake.
• Chu Qingjiu arrived, mistook the impostor for Qi Wu at first, and told him to stay away from the impostor.
• The fake Qi Wu approached Chu Qingjiu, who took his knife and stabbed him in the heart.
• The real Qi Wu watched the duplicate collapse and wondered how Chu Qingjiu had recognized and killed him so calmly.

Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu’s attempt to discuss what Chu Qingjiu was hiding turned into a painful confrontation, with Qi Wu’s urge to kill him reawakening. Meanwhile, a figure in Building E manipulated the community’s red threads and predicted the lovers would turn against each other in two days.

• Chu Qingjiu reassured Qi Wu that he had recognized him, then avoided explaining how he sensed Qi Wu was in danger.
• Qi Wu pressed Chu Qingjiu to reveal what he was hiding, insisting that he cared only about him.
• Chu Qingjiu told Qi Wu that his forceful behavior made him hate him, and Qi Wu’s anger and killing intent surged.
• Chu Qingjiu realized Qi Wu wanted to kill him.
• A figure in apartment 408, Building E, halted the red threads gathering at the community’s center and predicted that the lovers would lose their love and turn against each other in two days.

Chu Qingjiu confronted Qi Wu after sensing his murderous intent, while Qi Wu insisted that he loved him and had not meant to hurt him. Chu Qingjiu chose to postpone deciding their future and keep some distance while they searched for the other players in the instance.

• Chu Qingjiu accused Qi Wu of wanting to kill him, and Qi Wu panicked, unable to explain his sudden murderous thoughts.
• Qi Wu pulled Chu Qingjiu into an embrace and swore that he loved him, but Chu Qingjiu remained hurt and distrustful.
• Qi Wu lost control of his body and stepped away when Chu Qingjiu told him to calm down.
• Chu Qingjiu hesitated to end their relationship after seeing Qi Wu's tearful, wounded expression.
• Chu Qingjiu decided to maintain some distance and focus on clearing the instance before they discussed their future.

Qi Wu and Chu Qingjiu realized that strange emotions had been influencing them and agreed they needed to identify what was missing. Chu Qingjiu left to investigate the Dungeon Boss, while Qi Wu recognized something moving beneath his skin; on the fourth floor, Chu Qingjiu found a ghostly presence beside Li Zihao.

• Qi Wu explained that his emotions felt out of his control, and Chu Qingjiu confirmed that he had experienced similarly unnatural emotions.
• Chu Qingjiu told Qi Wu to stay safe while he went to identify the Dungeon Boss, and Qi Wu watched him leave before noticing something stirring beneath his skin.
• Chu Qingjiu encountered Auntie Wang on the fourth floor, learned she was going out to buy ingredients, and went to see her son, Li Zihao.
• Chu Qingjiu found Li Zihao alone in a dark room filled with yin energy and told him a ghost had been standing beside him.

Chu Qingjiu questioned Li Zihao, used his Puppet Threads to rule him out as the dungeon boss, and returned home with a strange offering from Auntie Wang. The chapter ended as an ominous figure approached apartment 406 and the contents of the bowl were revealed only as grotesque and horrifying.

• Chu Qingjiu told Li Zihao that a ghost had watched him and left open whether it was Chu Zhi.
• Chu Qingjiu sent Puppet Threads into Li Zihao, learned he had no connection to the Ghost Tamer, and ruled him out as the dungeon boss.
• Chu Qingjiu identified Chu Zhi, the Vengeful Ghost that killed Yu Nian, and the ghost watching Li Zihao as his remaining suspects.
• Chu Qingjiu left Li Zihao's apartment and accepted a black plastic bag from Auntie Wang, who told him to leave its contents in a bowl by his door.
• Chu Qingjiu placed the contents in a bowl outside apartment 406 and put a paper talisman above his door as a figure approached.

Chu Qingjiu discovered that residents fed human corpses to a blood-red creature covered in eyes, which ate Yu Nian’s head and then killed the resident of Room 409. He suspected the creature came from outside Happy Community and appeared once a week.

• Chu Qingjiu deduced that Auntie Wang had given him Yu Nian’s head as food for the thing that protected residents in exchange for corpses.
• Chu Qingjiu opened his door and saw a blood-red creature covered in eyes eating the head; he noticed its intelligence and affinity of 10, then shut the door.
• After finishing the head, the creature entered Room 409, where it found no food and began eating the resident.
• The next morning, Chu Qingjiu found the empty bowl outside his door and blood seeping from Room 409.
• Chu Qingjiu reasoned that the creature appeared weekly, with its next arrival likely on the tenth day, and suspected it had come from outside the instance.

After the previous night’s attack, Chu Qingjiu questioned the players about anything unusual they had encountered. The group discovered that Wu Zhong’s scalp was covered in closed eyes.

• Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu exchanged awkward glances, then Qi Wu asked Chu Qingjiu what he thought.
• Chu Qingjiu asked the other players whether anything had happened to them during the night, and they said everything had seemed normal.
• Wu Zhong complained that his head itched and kept scratching it with his long fingernail.
• Lin Ran noticed blood on the back of Wu Zhong’s head and warned him to stop scratching.
• Zhao Yang restrained Wu Zhong and exposed the back of his head, where Lin Ran saw it was covered in closed eyes.

Wu Zhong developed clusters of eyes that spread across his body, and a strange voice urged him to transfer them to someone else. After Zhang Shan touched one of the eyes and triggered their rapid growth, Chu Qingjiu told him to kill himself.

• Chu Qingjiu questioned Wu Zhong about the eyes on the back of his head while the players restrained him.
• As the eyes spread and Wu Zhong suffered, he saw Red Threads around the players and heard a voice tell him to transfer the eyes by making someone touch them.
• Wu Zhong pretended he had recovered and invited the others to touch the eyes.
• Zhang Shan touched one of Wu Zhong's eyes, causing the eyes to spread rapidly across Wu Zhong's body.
• The players backed away from Zhang Shan, and Chu Qingjiu told him to kill himself.

Zhang Shan became contaminated by the eyes and threatened Chu Qingjiu, who transferred the contamination into a paper figure to save him. The transfer injured Chu Qingjiu, and Qi Wu caught him as he insisted the backlash was minor.

• Zhang Shan's hands became covered in eyes, and he charged at Lin Ran, but Zhao Yang kicked him down.
• Zhang Shan begged Chu Qingjiu to save him and threatened to reveal what he had seen in Room 408.
• Chu Qingjiu approached Zhang Shan, claiming he wanted to help a teammate, while Qi Wu let him go.
• Chu Qingjiu used a paper figure to draw the eyes off Zhang Shan, but the figure burned and the transfer caused him to cough up blood.
• Qi Wu caught Chu Qingjiu and surrounded him with vitality as Chu Qingjiu said he had suffered only a little backlash.

After Chu Qingjiu recovered from his injury, he and Qi Wu investigated a new death in Building B and discovered a Vengeful Ghost had driven a resident to die in Yu Nian’s room. Their investigation was interrupted by a confrontation between two men in Building D, one of whom was preparing to leave after a secret marriage was revealed.

• Qi Wu scolded Chu Qingjiu for coughing up blood, and the two reconciled as the others carried the unconscious Zhang Shan back to his room.
• Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu learned that a man from 506 in Building A had died in 605, where Yu Nian had also died.
• Chu Qingjiu suggested that the players could survive the ten-day mission at the police station, and Qi Wu informed the others of the option.
• The police let Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu enter 605, where Chu Qingjiu sensed that a Vengeful Ghost had been present when the man died.
• Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu went to 609 after hearing an argument, where one man accused his companion of secretly marrying a woman after ten years together.

Chu Qingjiu suspected Yi Shi was behind Chi Chenxuan’s sudden death and wondered if Yi Shi was the Dungeon Boss. Meanwhile, Chu Qingjiu kept Zhang Shan trapped in his own body until Zhang Shan opened his eyes and saw a human-headed spider on the ceiling.

• Yi Shi slapped Chi Chenxuan and ordered him to leave, then Chi Chenxuan departed after police mediated their dispute.
• A flowerpot fell on Chi Chenxuan outside Building B and killed him, while Yi Shi wept and Chu Qingjiu suspected he had arranged the death.
• Chu Qingjiu reflected on his remaining control ability and his plan to make Zhang Shan suffer for threatening him.
• Zhang Shan remained conscious but unable to move as an eerie rustling sound tormented him.
• Zhang Shan’s eyes opened against his will, and he saw a human-headed spider staring down at him from the ceiling.

Chu Qingjiu used his Soul Puppet Threads to frighten Zhang Shan with the Spider Baby, while Zhang Shan tried to win the creature over and saw it as a possible weapon against Chu Qingjiu. Chu Qingjiu dismissed Zhang Shan’s plan and headed with Qi Wu to Building C to investigate the Spider Baby and its possible master.

• Chu Qingjiu made Zhang Shan face the Spider Baby, which licked him, called him “Mama,” and forced him to pretend to comfort it.
• Zhang Shan realized the Spider Baby did not seem likely to hurt him and tried to make it his ally so he could use it against Chu Qingjiu.
• Chu Qingjiu told Qi Wu that Zhang Shan was entertaining and recognized that Zhang Shan was trying to gain leverage over him.
• Chu Qingjiu saw through Yi Shi’s performance of grief and decided not to investigate him yet.
• Chu Qingjiu explained that the Spider Baby could steal luck for its master but might turn against them if its demands went unmet, then went with Qi Wu to Building C.

Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu warned Zhang Shan to be careful that night, then learned from the resident of 607 that a dead woman and baby haunted apartment 602. Chu Qingjiu realized six o’clock was when the ghosts came out.

• Zhang Shan hid Spider Baby before Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu visited, then reacted with hostility to their warning.
• Qi Wu defended Chu Qingjiu and traded insults with Zhang Shan before Chu Qingjiu led him away.
• The resident of 607 told Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu that a pregnant woman and her baby had died in 602 and that a baby cried there every day.
• Chu Qingjiu checked the time and concluded that six o’clock was when the ghosts came out.

Chu Qingjiu helped the ghost of the pregnant woman enter Apartment 602, then questioned Yi Shi about Auntie Wang and learned that she had warned him not to return to 404. As night fell, Chu Qingjiu concluded that Auntie Wang was the Dungeon Boss.

• Chu Qingjiu learned that the pregnant ghost wanted to see her child and agreed to help her in exchange for information about who had been present when she died.
• Chu Qingjiu took the ghost, possessing a paper figure, to Apartment 602, where Zhang Shan let them in but kept the Spider Baby hidden; the ghost stayed behind after sensing traces of her child.
• Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu visited Yi Shi in Apartment 609, where Yi Shi said Auntie Wang had lent him money during a difficult period.
• Yi Shi told Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu that Auntie Wang had warned them not to return to Apartment 404 that night.
• Chu Qingjiu reconsidered Auntie Wang's unusual behavior and decided she had to be the Dungeon Boss.

Chu Qingjiu uncovered that Happy Community’s Fortune Ghost was stealing residents’ happiness while Auntie Wang secretly helped it, and learned Auntie Wang had spared him. After Gu Yanze was killed by a resident, Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu began investigating the community’s deaths, then heard a child ask her mother about a missing pet.

• Chu Qingjiu realized that residents of Happy Community lost their happiness, and suspected Auntie Wang was behind the theft and the Spider Baby’s stolen luck.
• At midnight, Auntie Wang, Yi Shi, and others gathered before the Fortune Ghost; Auntie Wang explained that she had warned Chu Qingjiu because she wanted him to leave alive.
• The players discovered that Gu Yanze had been killed by the resident of apartment 1101, and Chu Qingjiu sent Zhang Shan, Zhao Yang, and Lin Ran to investigate while he and Qi Wu pursued other clues.
• Chu Qingjiu proposed compiling a list of residents who had died and went with Qi Wu to apartment 504 in Building E.
• On the way, Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu heard Zhenzhen ask her mother about Mimi, who had been missing for four days.

Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu found the dead cats hidden in apartment 504 and learned that Zhenzhen’s missing cat, Mimi, had been killed. After Chu Qingjiu discovered that the man responsible had died in police custody, he reconsidered who the dungeon bosses were and why players were being punished.

• Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu questioned Zhenzhen and her mother, then searched apartment 504 for Mimi.
• Qi Wu found several dead cats hidden beneath the bed, including Mimi, and Chu Qingjiu called the police.
• Chu Qingjiu told Zhenzhen’s mother the truth, and Zhenzhen wept and wished for the people responsible to suffer the same punishment.
• An officer told Chu Qingjiu that the resident of 504 had killed himself by ramming his head into a wall at the police station.
• Chu Qingjiu used his Soul Puppet Threads to control the officer, then concluded that Zhenzhen and Yi Shi were dungeon bosses alongside Auntie Wang and questioned whether players’ deaths were punishments.