Blood Gate

Biodata

Appearance

The gate in the Black Villa is a wooden door soaked red with blood, surrounded by the smells of blood and rotting wood 1.

• Bloody inscriptions: The task appears on the door in crimson writing. Before the second mission, new writing supplies both a task and a clue 1 16.
• Opening: Pale hands push the door open from within, after which participants lose consciousness and awaken inside the scenario 1 17.
• Reuse: Ning Qiushui’s first and second missions begin at the same door on the lodge’s third floor 1 16.

Entry and Obligations

• Participation is enforced: Refusing to enter does not provide an escape. According to the suited veteran, “things” behind the gate will pursue anyone who fails to enter and complete the task, regardless of where they flee 1.
• Failure is fatal: Participants are warned that failing the task results in an extremely gruesome death 1.
• Return transport: A bus comes to collect participants after they complete the task 1.
• Between missions: Survivors can return to their original world by bus. Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng are told that their second mission will occur a week later, with the bus collecting them beforehand 14.
• Larger objective: Tian Xun explains that cursed residents enter Blood Gates to collect twelve Puzzle Pieces and travel to the end of the Mist World 14.

Tasks, Clues, and Survival

Assigned Tasks

• Tasks specify an objective rather than explaining every danger. The first mission requires five days of elderly care; the second requires surviving a temple ritual on the village’s seventh day 1 16.
• Task wording must be read carefully. Ning Qiushui realizes that surviving the ritual on the seventh day does not mean the sacrifices only begin that day 38.
• Every world behind a Blood Gate has more than one way to survive, according to the suited veteran 1.

Clues and Death Conditions

• Gate-provided hints: The first gate provides no hint; subsequent gates supply important clues alongside the increased difficulty 17.
• Incomplete information: Hints do not necessarily identify every relevant figure. Rain-Praying Village’s verse describes the benevolent, compassionate, and innocent, but omits the Evildoer 33 37.
• Death conditions: Some ghosts cannot attack until a participant triggers a killing condition. Ning Qiushui survives the first villa’s corridor encounter by leaving the light off during the wind 9.
• Discovering the truth: Ning Qiushui treats investigation as a means of finding a countermeasure, rather than merely learning a scenario’s backstory 9.

Environmental Dangers

• Nighttime: Bai Xiaoxiao advises against exploring after dark unless a clear clue or special circumstance requires it; Blood Gate worlds are usually especially dangerous at night 18 39.
• Rapid nightfall: In Rain-Praying Village, daylight turns to complete darkness in less than ten minutes 18.
• Misleading local accounts: Bai Xiaoxiao warns that attractions built by the villagers show what they want visitors to see, not necessarily the truth 33.
• Teamwork: Experienced participants increasingly favor groups of two or three so someone can intervene when another is caught by a supernatural threat 25.

Difficulty and Veteran Guidance

• Guidance is not a guarantee: Bai Xiaoxiao nearly dies while escorting Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng through their second gate 41 50.
• Guides can exploit newcomers: Tang Jiao uses the appearance of guidance to manipulate participants and pursue the sole-survivor reward 30.

Ghost Rules

Local and Roaming Ghosts

• Encountering a roaming ghost usually causes the next gate’s story to involve that ghost. These scenarios are more dangerous and have higher death rates than ordinary ones 15.
• The Red-Clothed Female Ghost is identified as a roaming ghost. The first gate severely restricts her abilities and killing rules, allowing Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng a chance to survive 15.

Death Inside a Gate

• Transformation: Bai Xiaoxiao states that anyone who dies beyond a Blood Gate becomes a ghost 28.
• Suicide or death by a ghost: The resulting ghost is a neutral entity that does not affect the scenario 28.
• Murder by another person: The victim may immediately seek revenge with intense resentment and involve other participants. Bai Xiaoxiao therefore warns against personally killing someone inside a gate 28.

Hidden Rules and Rewards

Hidden Survival Rules

Ghost Artifacts

• Acquisition: Certain difficult gates contain powerful items that can be brought outside. Ordinary objects generally cannot leave a gate 15.
• Ownership: Artifacts are gifts bestowed by the Blood Gate and are strictly personal possessions. They can be lent within the same gate but cannot be given away 33.
• Use limits: Each artifact brought out of a gate has a limited number of uses, never exceeding three 32.
• Owner’s death: All of the owner’s artifacts become sealed, losing their supernatural power and turning into ordinary objects 33.
• Example: Ning Qiushui brings Blood Jade out of his first gate. It repels the Red-Clothed Female Ghost and glows when supernatural danger is nearby 11 15 17.

Documented Scenarios

First Gate: The Villa

• An anonymous letter supplies Ning Qiushui with killing-rule warnings, including prohibitions against lighting lamps in wind and closing his eyes at night 9 12.
• Investigation of the third floor reveals Blood Jade capable of keeping the Red-Clothed Female Ghost outside the study 11.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng escape while the ghost eats the elderly woman, exploiting her inability to do anything else while feeding 13.
• The survivors’ encounter with a roaming ghost makes their next mission unusually dangerous 15.

Second Gate: Rain-Praying Village

• The gate’s verse points toward the Benevolent One, the Compassionate One, and the Innocent One. Ning Qiushui identifies an omitted Evildoer by questioning why the promised rain and peace never reached the innocent 16 33.
• The group’s proposed survival route is to help the Benevolent One take revenge, eliminate Spirit Medium Ruan, and recover the Compassionate One’s missing head 37.
• Ning Qiushui discovers that the village’s attractions—and even the guesthouse—serve as sacrificial sites rather than simply locations containing clues 38.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng lure the Spirit Medium to Fangcun Pond, where the human-skin ghost traps her. They subsequently report her death to the other survivors 43 47.
• Killing the Spirit Medium does not remove the danger posed by the village’s dead. The remaining investigation turns toward the monk’s head and rescuing Bai Xiaoxiao 46 47.
• Ning Qiushui believes this scenario precedes the first villa’s events: Spirit Medium Ruan is the villa’s grandmother, and the village’s accumulated resentment eventually produces the roaming Red-Clothed Female Ghost 29 46.