Chapter Summaries

Wei Yanchi and the others uncovered a skeleton in the island cemetery, but seawater had ruined it beyond identification. As the storm cut off all communications, Xie De searched an old building, found a letter from Wei Jianye, and hid when a group of young people arrived.

• Wei Yanchi collected an intact bone from the grave and said it would need testing to identify the remains.
• The Witch explained that the Wei Family Instance was still forming, while Wei Yanchi suggested asking the islanders what they knew.
• Silas discovered that communications devices had lost their signal, and Wei Yanchi warned that spatial distortions could mean they were already inside an Instance.
• A storm broke over the island as Xie De found a letter from Wei Jianye refusing to return home.
• Xie De hid when a group of young people passed the doorway, while 455 continued trying to contact 730.

Xie De tried to avoid the young visitors at the Wei Family estate while seeking a way to contact the outside world. Liu Jiarui panicked after seeing a ghost, and Xie De witnessed a spectral woman enter the estate with two children.

• Xie De wondered who the equipped young visitors were and decided to leave through the garden to seek help.
• Liu Jiarui told her classmates she had seen a white-haired shadow floating through the mist, but Wang Chen and the others had not seen it on camera.
• Wang Chen asked Tang Jinyan and Jiang Qing to take Liu Jiarui down the mountain while the rest of the group continued filming.
• Liu Jiarui became increasingly agitated on the way down, insisting they were trapped, and Tang Jinyan realized they had returned to a path they had already taken.
• Xie De saw a woman dressed in old-fashioned clothes enter the estate holding two children by the hand.

As the storm trapped Wei Yanchi and the others at the guesthouse, a ghostly ship’s crew tried to force its way inside, and Wei Yanchi warded them off. Meanwhile, Xie De examined clues in the Wei Family Residence and realized the ghosts might be affecting reality.

• The Witch warned Wei Yanchi and the others about a red-eyed monster she had seen near the guesthouse.
• Strangers pleading for shelter pounded on the guesthouse door, but Wei Yanchi sensed corpse stench and sealed the door with Talisman Paper.
• Wei Yanchi told the guesthouse owner to scatter salt at the doors and windows after the pounding stopped, and suspected the visitors came from a ghost ship.
• Xie De retreated into his Viscount Domain and reviewed two exchanged letters from the Wei Family Residence, puzzled by the Second Branch’s fate and the corpse that had revived.
• Xie De connected the ghosts appearing outside the instance to the possibility that an SS Rank instance could affect reality.

A system error caused the SS Rank Wei Family instance to affect reality, forcing Xie De to help clear it alongside rookies while the system struggled to control the situation. Xie De prepared to enter the instance as Wei Yanchi’s great-uncle and invited Emma to come along.

• The Wei Family Old Residence players received the instance briefing, while Wei Yanchi, Zhang Mingqi, Silas, and the Witch learned that their tourist identities came with no question opportunities.
• 730 explained that the travelers could ask three questions, and that the instance’s collapse could release ghosts into reality.
• Xie De learned that the instance was affecting G City and that he was expected to help rookies clear it, while 730 prepared contingency plans.
• Xie De accepted his role as Wei Yanchi’s great-uncle, gathered his belongings, and asked Emma whether she wanted to visit other instances.

Liu Jiarui and her classmates discovered that the Wei Family Residence had become an SS-rank instance, then met veteran players Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang. The newcomers learned how dangerous the instance was, and Zuo Shenghang said Mr. Xie De would come to help.

• Liu Jiarui, Tang Jinyan, and Jiang Qing returned to the others through the transformed Wei Family Residence and discussed the strange electronic announcement.
• Wan Jinfu told the group that their camera had shown a feudal wedding in which the bride’s face resembled Li Mengjiao’s corpse-like face.
• Wang Chen urged the seven classmates to stay together after learning they could not leave the residence.
• Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang introduced themselves as veteran players and warned the students that they had entered the highest-ranked SS-rank instance.
• Zuo Shenghang reassured Xu Gong that Mr. Xie De would come.

Lü Yating joined the group at the storm-stranded guesthouse and shared clues from the cemetery and a sailboat. As the women settled into one room and the men into another, she explained that her child gave her hope to survive the instances.

• Lü Yating picked the guesthouse lock and reunited with Juelu, explaining that she had joined the Instance Faction after having a baby.
• Lü Yating introduced herself to Zhang Mingqi and Silas, then described the cemetery's different kinds of gravestones and the Asian passengers she had seen on a stranded sailboat.
• Wei Yanchi deduced that the gravestones marked locals, outsiders with status, and vagrants or stray dogs, though he had not asked anyone.
• The Boss's Wife said the guesthouse had only two habitable rooms, so Lü Yating proposed that the women and men share separate rooms.
• Lü Yating told Zhang Mingqi that her child gave her hope and a reason to keep fighting to survive.
• Wei Yanchi claimed he was gay to keep Silas from sharing his bed, but Silas suspected he was only trying to take the bed for himself.

Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang investigated the Wei Family estate while Liu Jiarui got separated from the other students and encountered Xie De. Xie De and Emma took her with them, and Liu Jiarui introduced herself as a physics student.

• The Wei Family assigned the travelers rooms and warned them not to go out at night, approach the Ancestral Hall or tall building, or visit the mountain, adding that they had to stay through the Second Master's wedding.
• Liu Jiarui told Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang that the students had filmed a bride with Li Mengjiao's face, and the two veterans went out to look for clues.
• Liu Jiarui followed Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang but lost them, then found herself trapped in a bamboo grove with Wei Family members nearby.
• Xie De arrived with Emma and a black cat, and Emma helped Liu Jiarui up after she fell out of hiding.
• Xie De brought Liu Jiarui along and asked her age and studies, and she said she was nineteen and studied physics.

Xie De used his NPC identity to investigate the Wei Family estate while Liu Jiarui and Emma accompanied him, and two players fleeing a monster brought it to their group. After Emma and Xie De fought off the Humanoid Spider, Wei Yanchi received a letter saying Xie De had visited the estate and asking him to contact his family.

• Xie De posed as a friend of the eldest Wei master and learned that the second young master was fifteen and engaged to a thirteen-year-old girl.
• 455 pointed out inconsistencies in the Wei Family history, while Emma told Liu Jiarui that the gentleman was formidable and that they had survived wars and diseases.
• Zuo Shenghang and Xu Gong fled a Humanoid Spider and ran into Xie De's group, drawing the creature after them.
• Emma attacked the Humanoid Spider, and Xie De shot it so Emma could sever one of its arms.
• Xie De invoked Jianye's name and left with Emma as the Wei Family members took the injured creature away.
• Wei Yanchi found a letter from Wei Jizong saying that Xie De had visited and urging him to call home.

Wei Yanchi confronted Wei Jianye on the island and learned that his great-uncle had known Xie De for at least a century. Wei Jianye then appeared at the Wei Family home, where Xie De and Emma faced him in the storm.

• Wei Yanchi met the much younger-looking Wei Jianye, who reclaimed a letter and refused to explain the instance’s mystery.
• Wei Yanchi learned that Wei Jianye and Xie De had been friends for a long time and realized their earlier interactions had been a setup.
• Wei Jianye vanished, and Wei Yanchi told Zhang Mingqi that he had found a mailbox and seen his great-uncle.
• Wei Jianye arrived at the Wei Family home during a storm and greeted Xie De as Mr. Scheid.

Xie De confronted Wei Jianye about his unexpected presence and the Wei Family Instance’s loss of control, then persuaded him that restoring the instance’s proper course would benefit them both. Wei Jianye shifted the conversation to his past and mathematics while Xie De stayed away from his tobacco because smoking worsened his phantom pain.

• As the storm continued outside the mansion, Xie De saw the hostile threads surrounding Wei Jianye and learned from 455 that the upgraded SS Rank instance’s main Boss was at least an S Rank NPC.
• Wei Jianye placed a letter before Xie De and complained that Xie De’s entry had changed his storyline and memories.
• Xie De claimed he was Tyrese Scheid, a senior instance NPC sent to return escaped instances to the system’s control, and 455’s ghost-repelling electric shock scattered Wei Jianye’s threatening threads.
• Wei Jianye accepted Xie De’s explanation and asked him to share more about the instance’s rules, but Xie De said the system would inform him once the instance was back on track.
• Wei Jianye spoke about his exhaustion, impending death, and interest in mathematics, then smoked his pipe while chatting with Xie De.
• Xie De moved away from the tobacco, recalling that he had quit smoking after the Immortal Mountain Instance because nicotine aggravated the phantom pain in his missing limb.

The Players discussed the Wei Family’s arranged marriage and other deaths in the estate, while Liu Jiarui warned that she had foreseen Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang dying. Xie De explained that the incomplete instance linked two separate spatial threads through letters, and the young Players received two mysterious letters at their door.

• Liu Jiarui told the Players that the groom was the Wei Family’s fifteen-year-old second son and that she had encountered a foreigner connected to a young master studying abroad.
• Zuo Shenghang explained that deaths across the estate might be part of the truth, and Liu Jiarui warned that she had seen Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang die near the tall building and old well.
• Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang followed Little Coal Ball through the rain to meet Xie De, who gave them two letters exchanged by the Wei Family’s eldest and second sons.
• Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang inferred that the instance’s two spatial threads concerned the eldest son abroad and the second son at home, and Xie De said the Players could communicate by letters.
• A black-clad messenger slipped two letters under the secluded room’s door, including one addressed to Sir Scheid, which Liu Jiarui said might have been delivered to the wrong place.

Xie De received a love letter and an investigation report from Wei Yanchi about the island, where Wei Jianye had died and the islanders were being investigated as special NPCs. After Xie De sent a reply, Xu Gong encountered a Ghost Bride who spoke in Li Mengjiao’s voice and begged for help.

• Xie De read Wei Yanchi’s affectionate letter and realized Wei Jianye might think he was pursuing his younger relative if he learned about their relationship.
• Xie De read Wei Yanchi’s report that Wei Jianye had died on the island, the island’s residents had become special NPCs, and elderly residents were dying at a rate of two or three per day.
• Xu Gong said the Wei Yanchi they had seen afterward might be a living corpse or an impostor.
• Xie De wrote a reply for Wei Yanchi and asked Xu Gong to send it with her response.
• Xie De sent Emma to escort Xu Gong back after dark, and Xu Gong encountered a Ghost Bride who called herself Li Mengjiao and asked her for help.

Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang survived a night of ghostly chaos at the Wei Family Old Residence, where Emma revealed that a Ghost Bride was manipulating the players. The next morning, Wei Yanchi received a warning from Xie De about the incident and the cage within him.

• Xu Gong saw the Ghost Bride, then fled toward the lodgings as Li Mengjiao screamed near the ancient well.
• Xu Gong used flares to drive back the ghosts, and Zuo Shenghang returned with the missing students and an unexplained extra person.
• The players panicked and fought as Li Mengjiao's laughter sounded, until Xie De arrived and Emma reported that a Ghost Bride had been stirring them up.
• The next morning, Wei Yanchi read Xie De's letter, which urged him to focus on his work and be mindful of the cage within him.

Wei Yanchi and Zhang Mingqi learned that the island’s Ghost Ship appeared on the Ghost Festival, connecting the island’s Cult to the Wei Family’s beliefs. While the exhausted group slept, Wei Yanchi wrote a report of their clues and a personal letter to Xie De.

• Juelu questioned why Mr. 39 had singled out Wei Yanchi, and Zhang Mingqi explained that the SS-class Instance was connected to him.
• The guesthouse owner revealed that island residents once gathered at the Cemetery on September sixth to welcome a Ghost Ship, and that his childhood friend had already been dead.
• Wei Yanchi and Zhang Mingqi realized September sixth had been the Ghost Festival that year.
• Wei Yanchi offered to keep watch while the others rested, and they all fell asleep trusting him.
• Wei Yanchi wrote to report the group’s findings, including the island’s Cult, hostility toward outsiders, and questions about Wei Jianye’s death.
• Wei Yanchi wrote Xie De a personal letter asking him not to distance himself.

Zhang Mingqi watched Wei Yanchi dote on a letter and recalled how his reckless arrogance nearly got him killed while hunting a powerful ghost before his college entrance exam. She recognized that he had not truly changed, though she was surprised by how deeply he cared about the letter’s recipient.

• Zhang Mingqi woke and saw Wei Yanchi gazing affectionately at a letter while drawing a smiley face on its envelope.
• Zhang Mingqi remembered that at eighteen, Wei Yanchi had left school secretly to follow the Martial Arts Hall’s Daoists hunting a powerful ghost.
• After three days and nights, Zhang Mingqi found Wei Yanchi badly injured on a riverbank, gripping the ghost’s spirit and crushing it with a stone pixiu statue.
• Zhang Mingqi sealed the near-destroyed ghost in a pagoda and learned that Wei Yanchi had been close to death; he later spent a month in the hospital.
• Zhang Mingqi recalled Wei Yanchi’s strong makeup-exam score and concluded that, despite becoming more reserved, he remained the same beneath the surface.

Wei Yanchi forced the Church priest to explain that Wei Jianye had drowned in the sea, then deduced that the stranded Ghost Ship might be connected to Wei Jianye’s death and could take him off the island. Wei Jianye admitted Wei Yanchi was clever, while Wei Yanchi’s deductions about his past left him wanting to kill the boy.

• Wei Yanchi left Zhang Mingqi behind and went to the Church instead of delivering the letters.
• Wei Yanchi broke down the Church door and threatened the priest until the priest said Wei Jianye had drowned in the sea.
• Wei Jianye appeared after the priest left and asked Wei Yanchi how he had suspected murder.
• Wei Yanchi explained that Wei Jianye’s conspicuous, unadorned gravestone suggested guilt and linked his death to the stranded Ghost Ship.
• Wei Yanchi deduced that the missing supply ship and rising tide might let him escape the island, and that Wei Jianye had wanted to return for his younger brother’s wedding.
• Wei Jianye said he wanted to kill Wei Yanchi, who then headed for the mailbox.

Xie De and his allies confronted the Spirit Dance performer and the ghosts in the Wei Family Ancestral Hall, uncovering how Wei Jianye’s return had twisted the family’s beliefs and trapped its dead. Wei Yanchi arrived with more clues, but the ghosts’ fate remained unresolved as Wei Jianye’s wish for peace extended to them all.

• Xie De entered the Ancestral Hall while Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang attacked the Spirit Dance performer, provoking the ghosts to rush outside.
• Xie De projected his domain and used his ghosts to restrain the vengeful spirits, while Zuo Shenghang subdued the performer.
• Xu Gong performed the Spirit Dance and questioned the ghosts, who said they had been trapped for decades and that Wei Jianye had deceived them about death.
• Wei Yanchi arrived, but Xie De refused to hear his findings and withdrew his domain after checking on Xu Gong and Zuo Shenghang.
• Xie De recalled that Wei Jianye had become a powerful living dead figure on the Island, returned home, and driven the Wei Family further into ghost worship.
• The truth revealed that Wei Jianye had wanted to save the family at first, while Wei Yanchi had eventually sought to eliminate everyone there; Wei Jianye still hoped to bring peace to all the Wei Family ghosts.

Xie De and Wei Yanchi entered the Wei Family estate to investigate and deal with the ghosts behind the unexpectedly upgraded instance. Xie De spoke with the frail fifteen-year-old Wei Jianjun, who began to reveal the family’s past and its inheritance.

• Xie De explained that the Wei Family instance’s upgrade had been accidental and that resolving it required confronting its accumulated ghosts and twisted beliefs.
• Xie De and Wei Yanchi reached the Wei Family estate, where Xie De began dealing with the ghosts as they waited for the other players.
• Wei Yanchi guessed that Wei Jianye’s ghost would return to the mansion for the wedding, and glimpsed a ghostly face in the main hall.
• Wei Yanchi went to his parents’ empty room while Xie De met fifteen-year-old Wei Jianjun and introduced himself as Wei Jianye’s friend.
• Wei Jianjun began describing the family’s long-running chaos and asked Xie De whether he knew about the Wei Family inheritance.

Wei Jianjun told Xie De about the Wei Family’s bloodline legacy and its powerful ghosts, while Xie De pressed him for details about the family. Wei Yanchi shared his theories about his parents and the family’s relationships, and Xie De said he knew how Wei Jianye died as the trap neared its end.

• Wei Jianjun explained that the Wei Family’s ancestors used their bloodline to imprison powerful ghosts, with dragons watching over them, and said he hoped his older brother would never return.
• Xie De urged Wei Jianjun to describe the family’s history, then pointedly asked about his future spouse.
• Emma watched Wei Yanchi bathe and change clothes, and he later reported that he suspected his father had been adopted from a distant branch of the Wei Family.
• Xie De stopped Wei Yanchi’s speculation and said Juelu and the others should arrive soon.
• Wei Yanchi asked how Wei Jianye died, and Xie De replied that he knew and that it was time to close the trap.

Lü Yating questioned Wei Jianye about the Ghost Bride and learned that he had failed to save his daughter and granddaughter from the Wei Family. The group uncovered evidence that islanders had murdered Wei Jianye and his companions, then waited for the storm to ease so the Ghost Ship could depart.

• Zhang Mingqi saw Wei Jianye in the rain but returned to the Church without confronting him.
• Lü Yating asked Wei Jianye why he had saved Wei Yanchi but not the Ghost Bride, and he said his granddaughter could not escape the Wei Family.
• Zhang Mingqi reported that Wei Yanchi had boarded the Ghost Ship, while the Witch and Silas found that the corpses hidden in the Church wall had been tortured and strangled.
• Juelu and Lü Yating connected the corpses, broken crosses, and storm to a theory that islanders had killed Wei Jianye and his companions after they were stranded on the Island.
• As the storm eased, Zhang Mingqi concluded that the Ghost Ship might be able to set off, and the candle suddenly went out.