Ghost Creature

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Ghost Creature
Original Name	鬼物
Species/Race	A category of supernatural beings that includes vengeful ghosts, evil ghosts, and resentful spirits; these belong to the broader category of Strange Creatures 9 251.
Habitat	The Nightmare World, including its streets and Nightmare Game settings; Ghost Creatures also appear in the Real World 60 353.
Occupation/Role	Frequently enemies, hunters, or rule-bound participants in Nightmare Games; some become allies who lend humans their power 9 313 391.
First Appearance	The Ghost Bride aboard the bus 3.

Origins and Classification

Players initially offer several explanations for Ghost Creatures: projections of people who died in the Real World, mutated dead Players, or human obsessions attached to objects. These are presented as competing theories, possibly accounting for different varieties rather than a single universal origin 9.

Later accounts describe humans from destroyed Nightmare World civilizations becoming wraiths and gradually turning into vengeful ghosts or resentful souls beneath the Red Moon. Objects can also mutate into Strange Creatures; some conceal their physical bodies and roam in ghostlike forms 197 251.

Type or origin	Defining characteristics
Vengeful ghosts	Driven by resentment, hatred, and an enduring obsession. That obsession can provide strength, restore awareness, or become a weakness 305.
Evil ghosts	Primarily concerned with hunting and feeding, often prolonging the hunt to make their victims more appetizing 9 305.
Mutated objects	Objects transformed by supernatural power can become ghostlike beings. Jing, for example, was a mirror that became a Mirror Ghost 251 261.
Mutated nonhuman beings	Ghost Creatures are not exclusively former humans. Chiliu was a member of the Long-Life Species who became a Strange Creature 261 262 267.
Blood Ghosts	A common variety associated with the blood saturating the Nightmare World. Their forms and resistance to damage vary considerably 57 251.

“Supernatural entities” is broader than Ghost Creatures: it also encompasses unusual buildings, items, and monsters beneath the Red Moon 9.

Appearance

• Humanlike forms: Some appear almost ordinary until wounds or deformities become visible. Ai Qing’s “older brother” has a handsome, intact half-face beside a mangled half 370.
• Death-related injuries: Recovering memories can reveal missing limbs, severed heads, and other wounds on vengeful ghosts 55.
• Non-solid bodies: Ghost Creatures may resemble shadows, pools of blood, translucent figures, or gelatinous masses 55 135 418.
• Nonhuman features: Documented forms include paper limbs, a single enormous bleeding eye, and a woman with a snake’s lower body 390 421.
• Extreme size: One Fog City creature stands approximately ten stories tall, with elongated limbs and footsteps that shake nearby ruins 181.
• Altered presentation: A controlled Strange Creature can clean up its appearance. Cry’s dirt- and blood-covered nurse form is not a condition she must permanently retain 567.

Behavior

Hunting and Feeding

For many predatory ghosts, humans are desirable chiefly because they experience fear and despair. Rather than immediately killing available prey, evil ghosts often linger, frighten their victims, and savor their worsening emotional state. Fear can also strengthen the evil ghosts feeding on it 9 370.

Some hungry Ghost Creatures attack their own kind when suitable humans are unavailable. Other ghosts may pass these attacks without concern; shared classification does not guarantee solidarity. Su Bai identifies fear of a stronger being—not kinship—as the reason ghosts avoid certain other creatures 55 185.

Memory and Obsession

Ghost Creatures can lose their reason or memories and repeat patterns rooted in their past. Ghost Village’s villagers endlessly reenact the bride’s capture, imprisonment, and sacrifice, even after forgetting the original purpose 21.

These losses are not always permanent. A Xi recovers memories and humanity after previously behaving like a mindless beast. In Happiness Residential Complex, imposed false memories keep ghosts acting out apparently ordinary roles until that control breaks down 19 55.

Humanity and Attachment

Hostility is common but not universal. Su Bai notes that ghosts left behind by the Nightmare World’s previous civilization may retain humanlike moral standards and memories of laws 111.

Individual Ghost Creatures can form lasting attachments. A Xi’s final obsession is keeping Su Bai alive; Chiliu maintains the Mirror World to honor a promise to Jing; and Cry voluntarily offers to help Su Bai before the cracks she perceives in him worsen 262 313 567.

Abilities & Skills

Shapeshifting and Intangibility

Changing shape and becoming shadows are common among evil ghosts and vengeful ghosts 57.

• Flattening limbs into paper-thin shapes allows some ghosts to attempt passage through door gaps 57.
• Blood Ghosts can alternate between pools of blood and humanoid outlines 57.
• The Hanged Ghost begins turning her limbs into wall shadows while attempting to escape Su Bai’s umbrella 43.
• Ghost Creatures hiding in a hotel emerge from wall silhouettes and carpet bloodstains, then retreat into those surfaces when threatened 421 422.

Physical Strength and Regeneration

Some ghosts possess formidable strength and durability, but these traits are not equally developed across all varieties 41 42 57.

• The Butcher Ghost withstands powerful punches and rapidly regenerates wounds and severed limbs 41 42.
• A ghost in Building 1 tears loose the security door and adjoining metal frame, then uses them as a weapon 58.
• The giant Fog City creature smashes streets and ruined buildings with its arms 183.
• Weaker ghosts can be stopped by barriers that a stronger, armed creature could break 56.

Possession

Some Ghost Creatures inhabit human vessels rather than exposing themselves directly 247 304.

• The Blood Threads Ghost Creature possesses Xiao Xiaodie and regards damage to her body as damage to a replaceable vessel 247.
• Ghost Creatures escaping the Mirror World through possession can abandon their vessels for temporary freedom 247.
• Ghost Madam initially needs to possess the West Courtyard Bride to move about 304.
• Su Bai’s Palm Brand prevents the Blood Threads Ghost Creature from leaving Xiao Xiaodie’s body 247.

Individual Supernatural Powers

Special abilities can arise from a Strange Creature’s innate talents or obsessions 262.

Ghost Creature	Documented power
Black Umbrella / Ghost Umbrella	Alters Su Bai’s appearance, sees through disguises, strengthens his body, and gives suitable rod-shaped objects swordlike properties; umbrellas receive an additional advantage 30 43.
Blood Threads Ghost Creature	Uses blood threads to bind hostages and inflict wounds; places the Mirror World’s malice inside Yue Zhengqing to open a passage 239 244.
Ghost Madam	Creates illusions covering the Manor. Su Bai suspects her apparent teleportation is the replacement of one illusion with another while her true body remains hidden 304 313.
A Xi	Grants Ghostification, increased strength and toughness, and confinement through iron chains; can take a fatal attack in Su Bai’s place 313.
Chiliu	Sustains the Mirror World and makes his skeletal true body appear flesh-and-blood human 262 267.
Ghost Hound Little Black	Possesses immense speed and strength, destructive claws and fangs, and lightning used to intimidate approaching ghosts 404 521.

Strength and Loss of Control

• Strength ranges from minor ghosts readily killed by Players to giant creatures and beings capable of sustaining separate spaces 182 262.
• A powerful obsession can strengthen a vengeful ghost, but disturbing or challenging it can also change the ghost’s mental state 305.
• Extreme hunger can cause a ghoul or Corpse Ghost’s power to run out of control 241 260.
• Ghost Creatures are not immune to suppression: the Mirror World prevents both humans and ghosts from using their powers 248.

Weaknesses and Countermeasures

No single method works equally well against every Ghost Creature. Their bodies, abilities, obsessions, and game conditions determine how they can be defeated 9.

Countermeasure	Effect and limitations
Vital points	Su Bai identifies the head and heart as shared weaknesses of humanoid evil ghosts. The Hanged Ghost also has a specific vulnerability at her neck 43 44.
Destroying a core	Su Bai explains that bizarre nonhumanoid creatures retain a core even when their bodies are liquid or gaseous. Destroying a white creature’s black “heart” causes its body to disintegrate 172.
Supernatural fire	Feng Ling’s orange flames burn Ghost Creatures. Little Fire’s blue flames consume the giant Fog City creature’s flesh, bones, and power 59 183.
Holy Fire	Li Feiwen’s golden fire drives Ghost Creature Family Members back 398.
Empowered weapons	Black Umbrella’s power allows Su Bai to pierce ghosts with an umbrella. However, the Butcher Ghost heals exceptionally quickly from wounds inflicted with its own stolen knife 43 44.
Obsession or wishes	Some games can be cleared by fulfilling a ghost’s wishes. An obsession may also serve as a psychological weakness 9 305.
Mental control	Chi Yan can temporarily halt ghosts, but their complex, twisted minds make control harder than it is with humans 403 405.
Shadow restraint	Tan Ying states that ghosts lack shadows, limiting her control. Encircling them with her own shadows can still restrain them temporarily 403.
Superior predators	Powerful beings can devour lesser ghosts. Hotel ghosts retreat in fear when confronted with powers capable of consuming them 422.

Some Blood Ghosts resist attacks even against their humanoid forms, while weaker examples can be killed by a strike through the head. Weak ghosts commonly dissolve into mist after death 57 58.

Connection to the Mist Shop

Su Bai’s Palm Brand can seal a Ghost Creature inside an ordinary object, which will most likely mutate into merchandise with a special ability. Adding merchandise increases the shop’s white sand and Su Bai’s strength 9.

• The brand favors depraved, violent evil ghosts, especially when they experience fear and despair during capture 9.
• It refuses certain low-level ghosts, including the weak Blood Ghost Su Bai kills in Building 1 57.
• The Blood-Colored Bead Necklace restrains powerful ghosts and absorbs their power. After Xiao Wu modifies it, it also collects nearby energy left by dying ghosts, regardless of who killed them 190 194.
• Collected power can later be converted into shop merchandise 190.

Source ghost	Resulting merchandise	Function
Fourth-Floor Coffin-Sleeping Ghost	Coffin-shaped cigar case	Cigar smoke puts nearby humans and supernatural entities to sleep; the supply is finite 68.
Red-Clothed Hanged Ghost	Extending rope	Extends and retracts; supernatural entities caught by it have difficulty escaping 68.
Butcher Ghost	Tallow candle	Repels ghosts weaker than the Butcher Ghost and enhances the holder’s perception, speed, and strength within its light; eventually burns out 68.

Role in Nightmare Games

Setting or event	Role of Ghost Creatures
Route 444 Bus and Ghost Village	A Xi’s recovered memories reveal the humanity behind the Ghost Bride, while the villagers repeat their sacrificial cycle 19 21.
Happiness Residential Complex	Ghosts act under false memories before regaining monstrous forms. The complex uses their attacks to intensify the Players’ fear, treating the attacking ghosts as “seasonings” for its meal 55 56.
Lorimaris Hotel	Su Bai identifies the hotel’s figures as wandering souls and suspects many were victims of Jialan’s experiments 103.
Fog City	Mayor Bai manipulates the city’s ghosts, places them inside puppet shells, and alters their memories so they live like ordinary residents 182.
Mirror Apartments	Refugee ghosts use humans as vessels and attempt to escape the corrupted Mirror World. Their powers are suppressed inside that world 244 247 248.
Master Wang’s Manor	Ghost Madam’s resentment, possession, and illusions drive the threat. After the game ends, she attacks Su Bai as the setting’s remaining Strange Creatures begin to rampage 304 313.
Family Member game	Ghosts occupy familial roles and torment Players, but must obey shared activity rules. Some steal body parts designated as treasures, including Ai Qing’s face and Liu Yongzhi’s arm 376 391 411 418.

Rules can restrain Ghost Creatures as well as Players. During the Family Member game, frustrated ghosts withdraw after an activity rather than attacking freely. The explanation that Administrators impose restrictions which disappear at a game’s end is presented as speculation, not confirmed fact 313 411.