Chapter Summaries

Su Yi revealed that his younger sister, Su Lan, became pregnant by Lu Yihao, disappeared after he pressured her to abort the baby, and inspired the script that exposed him. He ended by describing recurring dreams in which Su Lan said a rope was around her neck and she could not come home.

• Hong Gang confronted Su Yi, who insisted he had not intended to hurt anyone and began explaining what happened to his sister.
• Su Yi said Su Lan was a devoted fan of Lu Yihao, began dating him after meeting him through a film, and became pregnant before their family ever met him.
• Su Yi said Su Lan disappeared around April last year after Lu Yihao refused to take responsibility for the pregnancy and tried to force her to have an abortion.
• Su Yi admitted that he gave the paparazzi evidence against Lu Yihao, while Hong Gang explained that Lu Yihao’s backers abandoned him and that he had already secured another wealthy connection.
• Su Yi said he had written the script based on Su Lan and described dreams in which she held a baby at their old home and said a rope around her neck kept her from returning.

Su Yi confessed that he had sabotaged the first supporting actress and planned to kill Lu Yihao, but denied causing the second female lead’s death or the night’s incident. The narrator concluded Su Lan had been strangled by Lu Yihao and could not be helped without confronting him, while the director fired Su Yi and An Ning followed him to exchange contact information.

• Su Yi admitted that he had altered a prop to make the first supporting actress fall, and planned to frighten Lu Yihao before killing him to avenge Su Lan.
• Su Yi denied causing the second female lead’s death or the incident that night, and said he had suspected Su Lan’s ghost when Zhao Xingyun danced.
• The narrator concluded that Lu Yihao had strangled Su Lan with the rope still around her neck and buried her remains, leaving her unable to return to the Underworld.
• Su Yi begged the narrator to help find Su Lan’s remains, but the narrator said involving Lu Yihao was unavoidable and there was no real solution without exposing the murder.
• The director fired Su Yi and said the crew would keep his actions secret, and An Ning followed Su Yi out to exchange contact information.

Chen received only fifty thousand yuan from the director for helping Lu Yihao, Wu Yiyi, and Zhao Xingyun, then split the money with An Ning and Brother Liu. As Chen returned to his room, he spotted Su Lan, a woman in white holding a baby, watching a hotel room across the road.

• The director decided to stop filming and planned to expose Lu Yihao to his father-in-law, then paid Chen fifty thousand yuan instead of the promised two hundred thousand.
• Sun Yuan urged Chen to save Lu Yihao's and the investor's phone numbers in case another paid job arose, and Chen saved both numbers.
• Chen split the payment with An Ning after deducting Brother Liu's share, and An Ning asked why Chen always divided their earnings equally.
• Chen transferred Brother Liu's share and called to complain that the payment had been cut; Brother Liu was furious at the small amount.
• Chen saw a woman in white with a rope around her neck holding a baby and staring at a hotel room, then recognized her as Su Lan.

After Wang Jianguo asked Master Chen to help Lu Yihao, Chen and An Ning found Lu Yihao gravely weakened and covered in wet fetal-like hair, with sixteen eyelid-like fissures across his body. The chapter leaves them confronting the possibility that eight pairs of eyes lie beneath the fissures.

• Sun Yuan told Chen that the investor had ended his collaboration with the director and wanted Chen's contact details.
• Wang Jianguo called Chen to ask for help, and Chen agreed to visit with An Ning.
• Wang Jianguo and Wang Xiaoxiao explained that Lu Yihao had grown increasingly ill over the past two days and led Chen and An Ning to him.
• Chen recognized Lu Yihao's gaunt appearance as a sign that something was draining his yang energy, vital essence, and blood.
• Wang Jianguo removed Lu Yihao's blanket, revealing wet fetal-like hair and sixteen eyelid-like fissures covering his body.

Chen examined Lu Yihao and discovered eight infant spirits had attached themselves to his body after Lu Yihao caused at least eight abortions. Seventh Master identified the condition as resembling a parasitic twin and said the Meishan Ritual Arts Sect would need to handle it because treating Lu Yihao could be fatal.

• Chen found eight pairs of eye-like cracks on Lu Yihao's body and realized eight infant spirits were inhabiting him.
• Wang Guojiang and Wang Xiaoxiao left the room while Chen examined Lu Yihao further.
• Chen called Seventh Master, who was horrified by Lu Yihao's condition when Chen showed him on video.
• Seventh Master explained that the infant spirits were trying to be reborn through Lu Yihao but would be unable to reincarnate if he died.
• After examining Lu Yihao's face and tongue, Seventh Master linked the infestation to Lu Yihao's excessive sex and depleted essence, energy, and spirit.
• Seventh Master said Lu Yihao's case was dangerous and that someone from the Meishan Ritual Arts Sect would need to treat him.

After Wang Jiangguo refused to save Lu Yihao, Chen left the Wang residence, but Su Yi soon asked him to help find his missing sister Su Lan’s remains. Chen decided to save Lu Yihao so he could bargain for the location, and planned to contact Wang Xiaoxiao for help.

• Seventh Master told Chen to use ginger and cinnabar to temporarily suppress the Infant Spirits in Lu Yihao, and offered to contact the Meishan Ritual Arts Sect.
• Wang Jiangguo paid Chen twenty thousand yuan to leave Lu Yihao to die, so Chen and An Ning departed before Wang Xiaoxiao returned.
• Seventh Master warned Chen that Lu Yihao’s death would also prevent the Infant Spirits inside him from reincarnating.
• Su Yi begged Chen to help find Su Lan’s remains so his ailing mother could take her home for burial.
• Chen decided to save Lu Yihao in exchange for Su Lan’s burial place and proposed contacting Wang Xiaoxiao, who could bring Lu Yihao to them.

Chen persuaded Wang Xiaoxiao to bring Lu Yihao out of the villa complex, promising to save him for fifty thousand yuan. With help arranged by Seventh Master, they headed to Huangjiagou, leaving Wang Xiaoxiao wondering why her father had refused Chen’s help.

• Chen called Seventh Master and asked him to contact the Meishan Ritual Arts Sect again about saving Lu Yihao.
• Chen memorized Wang Xiaoxiao’s phone number from the villa complex’s resident list, then called her and asked her to bring Lu Yihao out with fifty thousand yuan ready.
• Wang Xiaoxiao brought Lu Yihao out in a wheelchair and joined Chen, Su Yi, and An Ning in Su Yi’s car.
• Chen called Seventh Master, learned that help was arranged in Huangjiagou, and directed Su Yi to drive there.
• Wang Xiaoxiao asked why Wang Jianguo had rejected Chen’s help, but Chen told her they would discuss it after Lu Yihao was saved.

Chen and Seventh Master brought the unconscious Lu Yihao to two Meishan Ritual Arts Sect masters at their pig farm, where they examined his severe condition and prepared to treat him. Before the ritual began, Chen arranged to wake Lu Yihao so Su Yi could question him about Su Lan’s whereabouts.

• Seventh Master took the group to the Feng brothers’ pig farm, where the masters examined Lu Yihao and blamed his condition on his sexual excesses and eight abortions.
• The fat master said Lu Yihao’s condition could be treated but was unusually severe, and he asked Wang Xiaoxiao to buy eight large roosters for the ritual.
• Su Yi worried Lu Yihao might refuse to reveal Su Lan’s whereabouts after being saved, so Chen asked the masters to wake him first.
• The fat master tried silver needles on Lu Yihao, then slapped him twice until he woke, and Chen asked whether he recognized him.

Lu Yihao confessed to killing his pregnant ex, Su Lan, and hiding her remains in the western suburbs, prompting a police search. As the two Masters prepared to exorcise him, they accused Seventh Master of stealing Meishan Ritual Arts and made him cover his eyes.

• Lu Yihao admitted that Su Lan was his ex, confessed to strangling her while she slept, and described burying her dismembered remains in woods at the foot of a mountain in the western suburbs.
• The narrator called Song Xiaotian to report Lu Yihao’s confession and arrange for the police to search for Su Lan’s remains.
• Lu Yihao said he had forgotten how many women he had made abort, then pretended to be unconscious when Wang Xiaoxiao and An Ning returned.
• The narrator noticed An Ning wearing a new Little Genius smartwatch but could not get her to explain why she had it.
• The two Masters prepared to exorcise Lu Yihao and separate the Infant Spirits, then gave Seventh Master a black cloth to cover his eyes so he could not learn their Meishan Ritual Arts.
• The thin Master accused Seventh Master of stealing the sect’s Spirit-Invoking Art, and the narrator realized Seventh Master had also claimed Summon Qiongqi as a secret art of the sect.

The two Meishan masters performed a ritual to remove eight infant spirits from Lu Yihao and transfer them into dead chickens. The chickens came back to life, and the masters planned to release them so the spirits could reincarnate when the chickens died again.

• Seventh Master was blindfolded and tied to a pillar so he could not secretly learn the Meishan masters’ ritual.
• The thin master beheaded eight roosters, reattached their heads with red cloth, and the two masters wrapped Lu Yihao in yellow cloth.
• An Ning secretly filmed the ritual with a children’s watch while the masters chanted over Lu Yihao for nearly two hours.
• The fat master sprayed water mixed with paper ash over the eight dead chickens, which revived before the group.
• The fat master explained that the eight infant spirits had left Lu Yihao and possessed the chickens, which the masters would release into the mountains so the spirits could reincarnate after the chickens died.

Su Yi learned that a chicken carried his nephew’s soul, and the narrator exposed Lu Yihao’s crimes to Wang Xiaoxiao, who demanded a divorce. After the group left, the narrator discovered he had badly undercharged for the job and earned nothing from it.

• A chicken carrying Su Yi’s nephew’s soul clung to him, and Su Yi held it while grieving for his sister, Su Lan.
• The narrator told Wang Xiaoxiao that Lu Yihao had fathered Infant Spirits and killed someone, and Seventh Master showed her a video confirming his confession.
• Wang Xiaoxiao cursed Lu Yihao, demanded a divorce, and transferred fifty thousand yuan to the narrator, who gave it to the two Masters.
• The narrator asked Seventh Master about the fee, learned that the case should have cost several hundred thousand yuan, and regretted giving away the money.

After helping Su Yi report Lu Yihao, the narrator learned why Seventh Master was preserving secret techniques and teachings. The next day, he taught An Ning classical Chinese until Song Xiaotian announced a lucrative job at a real estate tycoon’s development.

• The narrator comforted Wang Xiaoxiao, who agreed to ask Wang Jianguo not to retaliate against them.
• The narrator and his companions accompanied Su Yi to the Police Bureau, where he reported Lu Yihao after Su Lan’s body was found.
• At Seventh Master’s home, the narrator watched him study An Ning’s secret footage and heard his reasons for preserving the Mystic Sect’s traditional knowledge.
• The exhausted narrator slept at the shop, then woke to find An Ning reading classical Chinese and explained passages to her.
• Song Xiaotian arrived after a call from Pan Xiaorou and said a real estate tycoon needed help at a development, inviting them to take the job.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian took a private job from property tycoon Mr. Xu to find a missing university student who disappeared inside his residential complex. After casting a hexagram, the narrator learned she was still alive and asked whether the buildings had basements.

• Song Xiaotian explained that a university student had entered a building in Mr. Xu’s complex and never appeared on surveillance leaving it, despite a police search finding no trace of her.
• The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and their companion left the shop under the pretense of handing out flyers and went to meet Mr. Xu.
• The narrator questioned Mr. Xu about the disappearance and learned that the girl’s family had been protesting outside the complex, hurting apartment sales.
• The narrator cast a hexagram and concluded that the missing girl was still alive.
• The narrator asked Mr. Xu whether the apartment buildings had basements.

Chen Mo and his companions investigated how Liang Yi vanished from the thirteenth floor, where police found no trace of her. Brother Liu revealed that Liang Yi and An Yutong, a wealthy resident of that floor, attended the same university, while Liang Yi’s poor family had come to the complex seeking money.

• Boss Xu explained that cameras showed Liang Yi leaving the elevator on the thirteenth floor but never leaving by the elevator or stairwell.
• Brother Liu arrived and confirmed that police had thoroughly searched both apartments on the thirteenth floor without finding Liang Yi.
• Chen Mo concluded that someone on the thirteenth floor likely had a connection to Liang Yi and asked how the police had investigated the residents.
• Brother Liu showed photos identifying Liang Yi and An Yutong, who lived on the thirteenth floor and attended the same university.
• An Ning inferred that Liang Yi was poor, and Brother Liu said her family had come to the complex to extort money before she had been found.

The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and Brother Liu discussed why the police could not connect An Yutong to Liang Yi’s disappearance despite Liang Yi’s visit to An Yutong’s apartment. As they headed to investigate at the university, two hearses passed them, and the narrator took them as an omen of death for their group.

• The narrator compared Liang Yi’s insecurity and poverty with An Yutong’s confidence and wealth, then questioned Brother Liu about Liang Yi getting off on An Yutong’s floor.
• Song Xiaotian argued that An Yutong must have known Liang Yi, but Brother Liu explained that searches, surveillance, and university inquiries had uncovered no evidence linking her to the disappearance.
• Brother Liu told the group that An Yutong was attending classes and would return home after studying in the university library, so the narrator and his companions set off to investigate at the university.
• A hearse passed the group near Liang Yi’s apartment building, and another passed them when they arrived at the university.
• The narrator recalled Seventh Master’s omen-reading advice and concluded that the two hearses signaled death for them.

The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and An Ning visited Liang Yi and An Yutong’s university and investigated the campus beauty contest while trying to understand Liang Yi’s disappearance. The narrator remained convinced that Liang Yi was alive, despite being unable to explain where she had gone.

• The narrator worried that seeing a hearse twice was an ill omen, but Song Xiaotian dismissed his superstition.
• At the university, the narrator and his companions found that Liang Yi was leading An Yutong by more than eighty votes in the campus beauty contest.
• Song Xiaotian and two male students said An Yutong had greater bearing, while An Ning voted for Liang Yi because she thought Liang Yi looked prettier and more innocent.
• The narrator learned that the two male students had voted for An Yutong, and one suspected Liang Yi’s votes had been inflated.
• An Ning suggested An Yutong might have killed Liang Yi out of jealousy, but the narrator questioned why Liang Yi had sought An Yutong out and insisted his divination showed Liang Yi was alive.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian investigated why students voted for Liang Yi and sought to understand her connection to An Yutong, whose home was the last place Liang Yi was seen. An Yutong denied knowing Liang Yi or suspecting her of damaging her car, leaving the reason Liang Yi went to her building unresolved.

• The narrator explained that shy boys from modest families favored Liang Yi because they saw her as someone like themselves, while wealthier boys favored An Yutong.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned from Liang Yi's classmates that she was introverted, frugal, helpful, and well regarded.
• The narrator found An Yutong studying in the university library and introduced herself as Liang Yi's cousin.
• An Yutong said she had never interacted with Liang Yi outside class and did not know why Liang Yi had appeared at her residential complex.
• An Yutong revealed that someone had blamed Liang Yi for scratching her car out of jealousy, but she did not believe the accusation and had not reported it.
• An Yutong dismissed the campus vote as entertainment and praised Liang Yi's beauty, grades, and prospects.

The narrator questioned An Yutong and found no clear sign that she knew anything about Liang Yi’s disappearance, leaving the group baffled about where Liang Yi had gone. After helping Granny He search for her missing dog, the narrator found it dead and was struck by the similarity to Liang Yi’s disappearance.

• The narrator told Song Xiaotian and An Ning that An Yutong had seemed sincere, though An Ning warned that Lin Yin’s acting showed appearances could deceive.
• The narrator and his companions gave An Yutong a ride home and questioned her, but she revealed nothing suspicious.
• Song Xiaotian recalled a similar case in which a mother and daughter vanished from an apartment building, and suggested Liang Yi’s disappearance might be supernatural.
• The narrator went out with Granny He to search for her missing dog, and they found it beaten to death.

After Granny He's dog died and Meng Yifan reported a child missing after a funeral, the narrator revisited the mystery of Liang Yi's disappearance. When he tried to rewatch the building's surveillance footage, he found the USB drive empty and discovered Brother Liu had taken it out of the building.

• The narrator worried that Granny He's dog's death and Liang Yi's disappearance might be connected to a haunted house, then called Meng Yifan about his return.
• Meng Yifan told the narrator that a seven- or eight-year-old child had gone missing after a funeral, so he had to help search.
• The narrator went to Brother Liu's workplace to rewatch the footage of the building where Liang Yi disappeared, but the USB drive was empty.
• Brother Liu and the narrator checked the Evidence Room register and found that no one had checked out the USB drive.
• Brother Liu showed the narrator office surveillance footage, which revealed that he had left the building with the drive after watching it.
• The narrator confronted Brother Liu about taking evidence out of the building and asked whether he had met An Yutong.

The narrator confronted Brother Liu with footage showing him taking the USB drive, but Brother Liu insisted he could not remember leaving work. Seventh Master suspected an occult form of hypnosis had hidden Brother Liu’s memories, and the narrator took him to Seventh Master’s place to try to recover them.

• The narrator showed Brother Liu surveillance footage of him taking the USB drive and leaving work, but Brother Liu denied remembering any of it.
• The narrator questioned Brother Liu about meeting someone, and Brother Liu swore he had not lied or taken money.
• The narrator called Seventh Master, who explained that an occult practitioner could use the Mind Seizing Technique to trigger actions and hide memories.
• The narrator suspected the phone call had activated Brother Liu’s hypnosis and that the missing footage concealed clues to Liang Yi’s disappearance.
• Seventh Master agreed to try to recover Brother Liu’s memories, and the narrator and Brother Liu drove to his place.