Chapter Summaries

Jiang Chen encountered a ghost outside his apartment after his landlady Sister Hong warned him not to open the door. As the ghost marked him and entered Sister Hong’s home, Jiang Chen’s Monster Transformation System activated and gave him a way to gain ghost qi.

• Jiang Chen read reports of frequent murders in Jiangbei City and wondered whether the killers were supernatural.
• A woman in a bloodstained dress knocked on Sister Hong’s door, and Sister Hong warned Jiang Chen that the figure might be a ghost.
• Sister Hong told Jiang Chen that the woman was the dead friend of Sun Fang, who had been murdered in the hallway a year earlier.
• The security door opened by itself, and the ghost entered Sister Hong’s apartment despite her not opening it.
• The ghost looked toward Jiang Chen and marked his left hand with black vapor, prompting him to run for the kitchen to prepare an explosion.
• The Monster Transformation System activated, gave Jiang Chen 100 points of ghost qi, and explained that he could gain more by provoking ghosts’ emotions.

Jiang Chen used his General Yin transformation card as he tried to earn Ghost Qi by provoking the Knocking Ghost. He left the ghost stunned in Sister Hong’s apartment, where it advanced on him after revealing its gruesome form.

• Jiang Chen drew a one-star General Yin Monster Transformation Card, learned its effects, and left his apartment to find a way to earn Ghost Qi.
• The Knocking Ghost terrorized Sister Hong, widening the gap in her bedroom door and demanding to be let in.
• Jiang Chen rushed into Sister Hong’s bathroom and invited the Knocking Ghost to join him on the toilet, earning Ghost Qi from its shock and confusion.
• The Knocking Ghost revealed bloody wounds and entered the bathroom, where Jiang Chen screamed in terror and then pointed to the mirror, claiming there was another ghost inside it.

Jiang Chen used a Monster Transformation Card to kill the Knocking Ghost with his Azure Tiger Roar after tricking her into falling from the twelfth floor. He returned to apartment 1202, where Sister Hong was relieved to find him alive.

• Jiang Chen frightened the Knocking Ghost with a mirror and blue light, then threw her from the balcony while pretending to help her escape.
• The Knocking Ghost climbed back up the building, and Jiang Chen transformed with the Monster Transformation Card, gaining the Azure Tiger Roar ability.
• Jiang Chen grabbed the ghost, smashed her into the ground, and destroyed her with his roar, earning 99 Ghost Qi.
• Jiang Chen returned to apartment 1202, where Sister Hong mistook his apparent fall for a sacrifice and grieved for him.
• Sister Hong recognized Jiang Chen as human, rejoiced that he had survived, and asked about the ghost.

After defeating the Knocking Ghost, Jiang Chen drew two Monster Transformation Cards and decided to seek out low-risk supernatural incidents to grow stronger. Sister Hong brought him breakfast and offered him her apartment, then revealed that she owned every unit from the sixth through the fifteenth floor.

• Jiang Chen told Sister Hong to say a passing expert had dealt with the female ghost and avoided contacting the authorities.
• Jiang Chen drew Monster Transformation Cards for the Red Python Demon and the Chaos-Dwelling Demon King, then assessed the limits of their temporary power.
• Jiang Chen chose the Tianfu Road disfigurement case as his next target and planned to investigate after class the following evening.
• Sister Hong brought Jiang Chen breakfast and offered him the property deed to his apartment as thanks, but he refused it.
• Sister Hong returned with a box of property deeds and offered Jiang Chen any apartment from the sixth through the fifteenth floor.

Jiang Chen attended class at Jiangbei University of Finance and Economics and suspected the Tianfu Road murders were supernatural. Lin Youwei gave him a valuable protective talisman, while Yang Chan warned her to keep her distance from him, leaving Lin Youwei conflicted about her feelings.

• Jiang Chen accepted Sister Hong's offer of a nearby apartment before heading to university.
• Jiang Chen read about the Tianfu Road murders and suspected the killer might be a ghost.
• Lin Youwei and Yang Chan arrived at Jiang Chen's classroom, and Lin Youwei gave him an Evil-Repelling Talisman and warned him to stay indoors at night.
• Yang Chan criticized Lin Youwei for giving an ordinary person such a valuable talisman and warned her against confusing gratitude with love.
• Lin Youwei explained that Jiang Chen had saved her from human traffickers when they were children, but kept her lingering feelings to herself.

After Lin Youwei gave Jiang Chen a powerful talisman, he reflected on why the Nine Provinces kept ghost incidents secret. Back in class, Zheng Shaoming confronted Jiang Chen over his connection to Lin Youwei, and their argument nearly turned into a fight before Sun Zhibing intervened.

• Jiang Chen recalled saving Lin Youwei from a human trafficker when they were children and realized she had given him the talisman as a warning about ghosts.
• Jiang Chen returned to class, where his classmates teased him about Lin Youwei, until Zheng Shaoming silenced them.
• Zheng Shaoming invited Jiang Chen to a gathering and mocked him for working at a milk tea shop, but Jiang Chen insulted Zheng in return and taunted him about Lin Youwei.
• Five or six basketball club members surrounded Jiang Chen and demanded that he apologize to Zheng Shaoming.
• Sun Zhibing entered the classroom, ordered the students back to their seats, and began roll call.

Jiang Chen investigated the disfigurement murders at the Tianfu Road residential complex and learned that a vengeful woman asked her victims, “Am I beautiful?” The chapter ended with Jiang Chen hiding in a water valve room as the woman searched the stairwell.

• Jiang Chen saw black handprints on Zheng Shaoming’s shoulders but decided not to warn anyone about the sponsored retreat.
• Jiang Chen visited Tianfu Road to investigate Zhang Meimei, and the residents reacted fearfully when he asked about her.
• A woman warned Jiang Chen that a disfigured woman attacked people who answered her question about her beauty.
• Jiang Chen found a man’s mutilated corpse behind an apartment door on the fifth floor.
• A panicked woman pulled Jiang Chen into a water valve room and concealed them with a talisman as the killer came down the stairs asking whether she was beautiful.

Jiang Chen and Chen Xue faced a disfigured female ghost in the apartment building, and Jiang Chen distracted her with flirtation before transforming into a Red Python Demon. He killed the ghost by cutting off her head.

• Chen Xue introduced herself as an Unusual Person and tried to lead Jiang Chen out, but the female ghost confronted them on the stairs.
• Chen Xue struck the ghost with a Golden Light Talisman, but her wound and depleted true qi left her unable to keep fighting.
• Jiang Chen answered that the ghost was beautiful and lured her into apartment 502 by pretending to want to get closer to her.
• The ghost pinned Jiang Chen against the wall and threatened to disfigure him, so he activated a Monster Transformation Card and became a Red Python Demon.
• Jiang Chen caught the ghost's knife hand, crushed her wrist, and cut off her head.

Jiang Chen killed the disfigured ghost and learned about the practitioner world from Chen Xue, who helped him join the Underworld App. They went to investigate another ghost in the building and reached the door of a suspicious resident.

• Jiang Chen killed the disfigured ghost with a slash infused with Demonic Power, shattering her soul.
• Chen Xue returned to Room 502 and found Jiang Chen alive; he claimed he knew little about practitioners, so she explained the Dao Alliance and Netherworld and registered him on the Underworld App.
• Jiang Chen earned 50 points by uploading a photo of the ghost’s remains and learned that the app’s marketplace traded magical artifacts and talismans.
• Jiang Chen insisted on confronting the other ghost in the building, and Chen Xue followed him to the sixth floor, where she described how an unknown ghost had attacked her at the beauty salon.
• Jiang Chen and Chen Xue suspected the resident of Room 601 because she lived beside Zhang Meimei’s frequent haunt, so Chen Xue showed her identification and requested an inspection.

Jiang Chen and Chen Xue investigated the pale boy Yangyang and learned that a Mirror Ghost had taken over his mother’s body. The Mirror Ghost served them a table of meat dishes, and Jiang Chen tried to disgust it by requesting large intestine sashimi.

• Chen Xue told Jiang Chen that a strange boy had been seen in the stairwell and that previous victims had been missing body parts.
• Jiang Chen and Chen Xue questioned Yangyang, who said the woman in the apartment was not his real mother and described how a Mirror Ghost had replaced her.
• Yangyang explained that his father disappeared after the replacement cooked many meat dishes, and that he had survived by eating food from trash cans and accepting food from Liu Xiaoyao.
• Jiang Chen and Chen Xue found that the bathroom mirror had been removed, confirming their suspicion that the woman was a Mirror Ghost.
• The woman served a meal of meat dishes, and Jiang Chen asked her to make large intestine sashimi, making the Mirror Ghost nauseated.

Jiang Chen provoked the Mirror Ghost in Room 602 until she revealed her true form and attacked him. He overwhelmed her with Demonic Python Strength and chased her into the hallway, leaving Chen Xue unnerved by his brutality.

• Jiang Chen rejected the Mirror Ghost’s food and mocked her cooking, earning Ghost Qi as her anger grew.
• The Mirror Ghost transformed and attacked Jiang Chen after he joked that she was forcing customers to buy things.
• The Mirror Ghost tried to possess Jiang Chen by making him look into her eyes, but he activated Demonic Python Strength and tore off her arm and part of her shoulder.
• The Mirror Ghost fled into the hallway, and Jiang Chen chased her while threatening to look at her innards.
• Chen Xue stayed behind, frightened that Jiang Chen might turn on her next.

Jiang Chen killed the Mirror Ghost and learned more about the dangers posed by ghosts as yin energy spread. After leaving the apartment complex with Chen Xue, he accepted a ride in her Porsche and learned that her family bought Underworld points.

• Liu Mei'e watched the wounded Mirror Ghost flee downstairs, then saw Jiang Chen chasing after her.
• Jiang Chen taunted the Mirror Ghost for ghost qi before crushing her head with a demonic-powered strike.
• Jiang Chen checked his status, reviewed the ghost ranks, and resolved to find another incident to reach one thousand ghost qi.
• Chen Xue told Jiang Chen that cleanup crews were on their way and offered him a ride.
• Chen Xue drove Jiang Chen away in her Porsche 918 and said her family bought Underworld points for ten thousand per point.

Chen Xue explained the Netherworld, the Dao Alliance, and the deadly living person forbidden zones to Jiang Chen, then invited him on a group mission. After agreeing, Jiang Chen chose a dangerous solo hospital incident from the Underworld App and planned to investigate it after class.

• Chen Xue asked about Jiang Chen’s grandfather, and Jiang Chen said the old man forbade him from talking about him.
• Chen Xue explained that the Netherworld had taken over supernatural law enforcement from the Dao Alliance and described the SSS-rated living person forbidden zones.
• Chen Xue invited Jiang Chen to join a D+ group mission led by a member of the Qin clan, and Jiang Chen agreed.
• Chen Xue dropped Jiang Chen off at the Jade Garden Residential Complex, where he searched the Underworld App for a supernatural incident.
• Jiang Chen selected “The Patient Who Died Long Ago,” a D+ solo mission involving missing bodies and deaths at a hospital, and went to sleep before planning to investigate after class.

Jiang Chen brushed off his lingering gloom, provoked Zheng Shaoming again at university, and discovered that his monster transformations had left him with lasting power. While browsing the Underworld App, he learned that unrest at Fengdu was approaching ahead of schedule, though he decided to focus on his own affairs for now.

• Jiang Chen walked around campus to ease the psychological strain left by recent supernatural incidents and felt curious about the Ghost Qi his next encounter might yield.
• Zheng Shaoming drove through a crowd of students, and Jiang Chen mocked him about needing his mother to bring him to school.
• Students predicted Zheng Shaoming would ruin Jiang Chen, but Jiang Chen's menacing presence frightened them into silence.
• Jiang Chen realized the power and ferocious aura from his monster transformations had remained, and he thought he might now face resentment-level ghosts without a Monster Transformation Card.
• Jiang Chen learned that Fengdu's yin energy was rising more than a year before its expected unrest cycle, and that the Nine Provinces' forbidden zones had shown other early disturbances as well.
• Jiang Chen put away his phone and headed out for lunch, deciding the forbidden zones were not his concern yet.

Jiang Chen reunited with Li Jie and Zhao Erhu in the cafeteria, where both offered to stand by him against Zheng Shaoming. Lin Youwei greeted Jiang Chen, then discussed her concern for him with Yang Chan, who warned that his conflict with powerful families could endanger anyone close to him.

• Li Jie and Zhao Erhu joined Jiang Chen for lunch and offered to help him if he fought Zheng Shaoming.
• Jiang Chen sensed that Zhao Erhu possessed a dangerous strength greater than the top-tier Vicious Ghost he had faced.
• Lin Youwei greeted Jiang Chen, but he only nodded and returned to eating, frustrating Li Jie.
• Yang Chan criticized Jiang Chen for seeming cold toward Lin Youwei, while Lin Youwei said she had asked her father to deal with Zheng Shaoming.
• Lin Youwei reflected that Jiang Chen had once seemed brilliant but now appeared outmatched, and Yang Chan warned that wealth and the world of Unusual Persons limited what he could achieve.

Jiang Chen investigated the strange deaths at North Second Road Hospital and went there to inspect its morgue. Doctor Zhang Wenbo led him toward the morgue and described how Patient No. 18’s disappearance was followed by an inexplicable death.

• Jiang Chen read the report about Patient No. 18, a long-dead man brought to North Second Road Hospital, and the mysterious deaths that followed.
• Jiang Chen arrived at the hospital and asked a nurse where the morgue was, frightening her into running away.
• Jiang Chen met emergency doctor Zhang Wenbo, who recognized that Jiang Chen had come to handle the case and agreed to take him to the morgue.
• Zhang Wenbo told Jiang Chen that an elderly patient developed impossible multiple organ failure and died three days after Patient No. 18 disappeared from the morgue.

Zhang Wenbo told Jiang Chen about several people who had died after encountering strange figures and described finding the Morgue attendant Old Liu dead beneath a sheet. After entering the Morgue, Jiang Chen locked the doors from the inside, leaving Zhang Wenbo stunned.

• Zhang Wenbo recounted how an old patient appeared to walk on tiptoe at night before dying, after which his body disappeared from the Morgue.
• Zhang Wenbo described a chess-playing patient and a nurse who died after seemingly following figures they saw near doors.
• Zhang Wenbo told Jiang Chen that Old Liu had been dead for at least fifteen hours when he found his corpse beneath a sheet, despite a message supposedly sent by him.
• Zhang Wenbo and Jiang Chen entered the Morgue, and Zhang Wenbo closed the doors behind them.
• Jiang Chen locked the Morgue doors from the inside, startling Zhang Wenbo and earning Ghost Qi from the Low-Level Corpse Ghost.

Jiang Chen trapped Zhang Wenbo and the other corpse ghosts in the Morgue, then used their fear to gather Ghost Qi while hunting them. He killed two resentment-level ghosts and left the remaining corpses terrified of him.

• Jiang Chen locked the Morgue door, unnerving Zhang Wenbo and earning Ghost Qi from the frightened ghost.
• Jiang Chen noticed three empty beds and confronted the corpses beneath the sheets, whose fear generated more Ghost Qi.
• Jiang Chen tricked a middle-aged corpse ghost into believing it had risen too early, then stabbed and killed it with a Ghost Artifact knife.
• Jiang Chen woke an old corpse ghost by slapping it repeatedly, claimed he had forgotten its sleeping pills, and killed it with the knife.
• Zhang Wenbo watched Jiang Chen kill the ghosts and realized the living man had locked the door to keep the corpses from escaping.

Jiang Chen defeated Zhang Wenbo and the corpse ghosts in the morgue, then spent his Ghost Qi on a Two-Star Monster Transformation Card and drew Deer Power Immortal. He continued searching the hospital for Patient No. 18, but an encounter with a nurse interrupted his elevator ride.

• Zhang Wenbo led the corpse ghosts in attacking Jiang Chen, who killed them and pushed his Ghost Qi above 1,000 points.
• Jiang Chen unlocked two-star draws and used 1,000 Ghost Qi to draw Deer Power Immortal’s transformation card.
• Jiang Chen studied the card’s abilities, including two supernatural abilities and the option to demonize a body part.
• Jiang Chen left the morgue and planned to search the hospital floors for Patient No. 18, whom he suspected was in intensive care.
• A nurse entered the elevator with medical records, and Jiang Chen steadied them while brushing the back of her neck.

Jiang Chen faced a nurse ghost and a doctor ghost in a hospital elevator, outwitting them long enough to steal the doctor’s bag and escape. The nurse cursed him in the stairwell, leaving him gravely injured as he invoked Demon transformation—Chaos-Dwelling Demon King.

• The nurse tried to frighten Jiang Chen with a hospital elevator taboo, but he revealed a handful of black corpse tags and unsettled her.
• A doctor carrying a bag of human organs joined the elevator, and Jiang Chen pretended the organs were money before pulling on a stocking and stealing the bag.
• The nurse and doctor chased Jiang Chen into the dark stairwell, where his knife failed to stop the nurse and Lin Youwei’s Evil-Repelling Talisman burned her hand.
• The nurse struck Jiang Chen with a curse that slowed his heartbeat, while the doctor approached with a scalpel.
• Jiang Chen recognized that his strength could not defeat the vicious ghosts and silently invoked Demon transformation—Chaos-Dwelling Demon King.