Recaps

Su Yu entered the Ghost Story Game to find his missing parents and suspected that other players were hiding their strength for a larger purpose. He went to a deserted nightclub to seek information from Cao Xiangrong and prepared to use his frightening permanent item, Pleasure and Pain.

• Su Yu reflected on his unusual entry into the game and suspected that hidden players formed a third or even fourth party.
• Su Yu noticed that the moon had vanished from the players’ view and concluded that players saw a different world from ordinary people.
• Su Yu recalled that Cao Xiangrong might have known his parents and had promised to tell him more if Su Yu protected him.
• Su Yu arrived at the empty nightclub street, where the sticky-feeling wind made him uneasy, but he continued because he wanted answers.
• Su Yu peeled the bandage from his face and wrapped it around his ring finger, preparing to use his permanent item, Pleasure and Pain.

Su Yu activated [Pleasure and Pain] and entered the nightclub, where his heightened senses revealed that the dancers were dangerous Vengeful Ghosts. He found Cao Xiangrong dead but grabbed his phone, then fled as the crowd turned on him.

• Su Yu activated [Pleasure and Pain], enduring overwhelming sensory input as he entered the nightclub.
• Su Yu followed the scent of fresh blood toward the dance floor and sensed that the dancers were Vengeful Ghosts.
• Su Yu found Cao Xiangrong's twisted, bloodless face and realized he was dead.
• Su Yu spotted Cao Xiangrong's Phone with an incoming call from an unknown caller and rushed onto the dance floor to take it.
• Su Yu dodged a stiff arm and ran as the dancers stared at him and said in unison, "It's time for you to die..."

Su Yu fled the nightclub and suspected the Ghost Story’s death order depended on how many people were present when it arrived, while wondering what happened during the ten seconds of darkness. Liu Jingqing and Xia Nan compared notes about the blackout, but their call ended with a voice outside Liu Jingqing’s window calling her name.

• Su Yu escaped the nightclub, reasoned that larger crowds might bring earlier deaths, and wondered whether the blackout had hidden something before the Ghost Story arrived.
• Su Yu’s phone suddenly rang, and he sensed intense malice coming from it as he ran without answering.
• Liu Jingqing called Xia Nan, and they agreed not to meet at night and to contact each other if anything happened.
• Xia Nan asked Liu Jingqing whether her lights had gone out for ten seconds before the Ghost Story began, and she confirmed that they had.
• Liu Jingqing heard someone call her name during the phone call, and Xia Nan realized she had encountered something strange.
• A voice outside Liu Jingqing’s window called her name repeatedly, leaving her terrified.

Liu Jingqing was hunted by a curse that called to her in her own voice and forced her to flee her apartment. She became trapped outside her third-floor window as the entity entered her bedroom.

• Liu Jingqing heard her own voice calling her name outside and asked Xia Nan what to do.
• Xia Nan reasoned that a curse was targeting her and urged her to compare their situations and identify what had triggered it.
• When knocking began at Liu Jingqing's front door, Xia Nan told her to escape through the window using a rope.
• Liu Jingqing found her climbing rope, tied it to her computer desk, and climbed out as the entity tore through the security door.
• Liu Jingqing's rope knot jammed, leaving her suspended outside the window as the entity entered her bedroom.

Liu Jingqing unexpectedly cleared the Game while a ghost pursued her, though the Ghost Story continued for the other Players. Xia Nan realized the curse’s companion entity might have triggered her escape and began contacting Su Yu and Yue Qiuchi for clues.

• As Liu Jingqing hung outside her third-floor window, the companion entity appeared to tell her she should be dead, and the window shattered as she cleared the Game.
• Xia Nan and the other Players learned that Liu Jingqing had cleared the Game, but the Ghost Story remained active and still threatened them.
• Liu Jingqing told Xia Nan what had happened, and he asked her to leave her key and get away from the apartment while he examined the scene.
• Liu Jingqing discovered that her security door was intact, leading Xia Nan to conclude the companion entity’s actions had only occurred in the Players’ perceptions.
• After ending the call to avoid putting Liu Jingqing at risk, Xia Nan received Su Yu’s and Yue Qiuchi’s contact details and called Su Yu.

After Liu Jingqing cleared the trial, Yue Qiuchi tried to return to the city but was arrested on suspicion of murder. A crash freed her from the police car, where she faced an apparent Xia Nan while the real Xia Nan spoke through her phone, leaving her to bluff that she was talking to Su Yu.

• Yue Qiuchi heard that Liu Jingqing had cleared the trial and called her, but the call was busy.
• Xia Nan called Yue Qiuchi and told her to return so they could discuss how Liu Jingqing had cleared the trial.
• Yue Qiuchi asked Xia Nan to pick her up, but police arrived and arrested her on suspicion of murder.
• A vehicle crashed into the police car, knocking out the officers while leaving Yue Qiuchi unharmed.
• An apparent Xia Nan came to the wreck and asked Yue Qiuchi to come with him as the real Xia Nan spoke through her phone.
• Yue Qiuchi claimed she was talking to Su Yu, and Xia Nan muted his call to listen for what was wrong.

Yue Qiuchi realized the Xia Nan driving her might be a ghost, while the real Xia Nan helped her stay calm over the phone. Su Yu and Xia Nan compared their theories about [Death as Scheduled] and concluded that the Players might have died when the Ghost Story descended, leaving the meaning of the scheduled deaths unresolved.

• Yue Qiuchi suspected that the fake Xia Nan was a ghost but stayed in the car because she did not understand why it had not attacked her.
• The real Xia Nan asked Yue Qiuchi to answer “okay” if the curse had found her, and she confirmed that it had.
• Su Yu learned that Liu Jingqing had cleared the Game and inferred that [Death as Scheduled] was fundamentally an individual Game.
• Su Yu told Xia Nan that Cao Xiangrong was dead and proposed that the number of people nearby might determine the order of deaths.
• Xia Nan described his theory that something had happened during the ten seconds of darkness, and he and Su Yu considered whether all the Players had died when the Ghost Story descended.

Xia Nan deduced that the curse could kill players only when enough people and light caused humans to recognize them as dead, and he helped Yue Qiuchi escape its illusion. Before he could confirm the escape method at Liu Jingqing’s home, the curse surrounded him, but a strange figure offered to share his body, and Xia Nan accepted as memories of Li Xijiu entered his mind.

• Su Yu and Xia Nan considered whether the players were already dead, while Xia Nan contacted Yue Qiuchi after the curse latched onto her.
• Xia Nan compared the players’ surroundings and concluded that light and nearby people determined how the curse could attack them.
• Yue Qiuchi told Xia Nan how she thought she had killed her friend, and he explained that the blood and events were an illusion meant to keep her among people.
• Xia Nan told Yue Qiuchi to jump from the car, and she woke at the service area, realizing she had been dreaming while speaking with him by phone.
• Xia Nan concluded that the players were both alive and dead, but eight drunken students saw him beneath a streetlight and transformed into copies of him.
• As the copies attacked, a dark figure asked to share Xia Nan’s body; he agreed, and memories bearing the name Li Xijiu entered his mind.

Su Yu and Xia Nan reconstructed the events in Liu Jingqing’s apartment to determine how the curse had worked. They realized the crucial clue was the shadow Liu Jingqing saw, just as something seemed ready to appear.

• Liu Jingqing called Qin Manjiang and told him she had cleared the game, and he invited her to Clear Pupil Bar.
• Su Yu chose not to seek Doctor’s help and traveled to New Fate Community to meet Xia Nan.
• Xia Nan and Su Yu entered Liu Jingqing’s apartment and found her bedroom window open, with the climbing rope still hanging outside.
• Xia Nan reenacted Liu Jingqing’s escape while Su Yu played the ghost, and they realized the shadow was the crucial part of the scene.

Su Yu and Xia Nan discovered that the curse could be defeated by making it kill a reflection, then went to North City Amusement Park’s Mirror Maze. Yue Qiuchi was killed on the way there, but Su Yu and Xia Nan survived the Game; the chapter ended with an author’s quarantine update.

• Su Yu and Xia Nan deduced the curse’s two paths to death and identified making it attack a false reflection as the way to survive.
• Su Yu texted Yue Qiuchi their deductions and went with Xia Nan to the Mirror Maze at North City Amusement Park.
• Yue Qiuchi saw a ghostly version of herself in a red sedan and jumped from the rideshare, dying on the road.
• Su Yu and Xia Nan entered the Mirror Maze, where the Vengeful Ghost could not distinguish them from their reflections.
• As dawn approached, the Players received the notice that Death as Scheduled had been cleared.
• The author said an uncle had tested positive for COVID and that the author’s family might be quarantined after testing.

In Fu City, Huai'an Residential Complex had become famous because its old locust tree was believed to bring lovers lasting unity. Qin Manjiang’s friends gathered at Clear Pupil Bar and revealed that the Ghost Story [Wedding Dress] had begun affecting the real world on a large scale.

• Huai'an Residential Complex became a popular destination after the old locust tree gained a reputation as an Acacia Tree.
• Qin Manjiang welcomed Xu Yi, Zhong Xueran, Chen Zhiyuan, Mei Sijun, Yan Xiao, Xia Nan, Qiao Ziruo, Liu Jingqing, and Yu Ruoli to Clear Pupil Bar.
• Qiao Ziruo told Qin Manjiang she wanted to speak with him later, while Xia Nan greeted him warmly as “Brother Qin.”
• Shen Hai arrived at the bar and insisted on being served as a customer.
• Chen Zhiyuan warned the group that a Ghost Story was affecting the real world, and Shen Hai identified it as [Wedding Dress].

Chen Zhiyuan’s group planned to investigate the Acacia Tree, which they suspected was connected to a mutation of the [Wedding Dress] Ghost Story, while Xia Nan revealed that several abnormal killers had appeared in Fu City. The chapter ended with Xia Nan showing the group a photo of a man who looked like Qin Manjiang, suggesting the killers were searching for him.

• Chen Zhiyuan and Xu Yi told Qin Manjiang that the Acacia Tree in the south of the city had become popular, and they suspected it was linked to the [Wedding Dress] Ghost Story.
• Xu Yi, Liu Jingqing, Qiao Ziruo, Yan Xiao, and the others agreed to visit the tree the next afternoon, while Qin Manjiang reluctantly accepted that he was going too.
• Chen Zhiyuan asked Xia Nan to explain the second matter, and Xia Nan reported a string of murders and disappearances involving several unusually powerful killers.
• Xia Nan told the group that the killers were looking for someone, then showed them a photo of a man who looked like Qin Manjiang.

Xia Nan asked Qin Manjiang and the others to help lure out murderous players from other cities, and Qin Manjiang recognized that Xia Nan had returned. The group prepared to visit the South City Old Locust Tree, while Xia Nan privately resolved to return control of his body to its original owner.

• Xia Nan told Qin Manjiang that Officer Zhou wanted to use him as bait to draw out the people killing and eating victims in Fu City, and Qin Manjiang asked whether they were the ones he had let out.
• After Xia Nan nodded, Qin Manjiang welcomed him back, and the two agreed to talk about Xia Nan's disappearance once the matter was settled.
• Xia Nan revealed that the killers might have Spirit Pupils, prompting Shen Hai, Xu Yi, Yan Xiao, Zhong Xueran, and Mei Sijun to volunteer to help.
• Xia Nan limited the group and told everyone to rest before their trip to the South City Old Locust Tree the next day.
• After leaving the Clear Pupil Bar, Xia Nan silently promised to give the body back to Xia Nan after borrowing it for a little while.
• Back at the bar, Qiao Ziruo held Qin Manjiang by the wrist and cried, leaving him confused as Lin Ci watched.

Qin Manjiang took Qiao Ziruo to Qiao Family Village after she dreamed that her deceased grandmother could not hold on much longer, just as her father arranged to move the grave. At the village, Zhao Fengchuan and Lin’s experiment appeared to create a Ghost Story, and the excavation reached the coffin before someone ordered the diggers to stop.

• Qiao Ziruo told Qin Manjiang that she had dreamed of her grandmother and learned her father planned to move the grave, so Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun drove her toward Qiao Family Village.
• Zhao Fengchuan questioned Qiao Liang about his daughter, then dismissed him from the car.
• Zhao Fengchuan and Lin watched as an old Taoist began the grave-relocation rites, while Lin reported that a device was absorbing spirit pupils and accumulating malice.
• A sudden chilling wind blew away the Soul-Summoning Banner, but the workers began digging despite the Taoist’s alarm.
• The diggers reached the coffin, and a voice from behind the crowd called for them to stop.

Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun arrived as Qiao Ziruo found her grandmother’s grave desecrated and the old Taoist warned that the dead woman could become a calamity. Mei Sijun explained the danger and told Qin Manjiang that Zhong Xueran’s family was connected to Taoist knowledge, leaving Qin with questions about her bell and background.

• Zhao Fengchuan and Lin left the crowd after spotting Qin Manjiang, saying the ghost stories had been prepared for him.
• Qiao Ziruo rushed toward her grandmother’s exposed remains, but the old Taoist restrained her and warned her to stay away.
• The crowd discovered that the skeletal remains still had intact eyeballs, and panic spread as people cried that the grave was haunted.
• The old Taoist said Qiao Ziruo’s grandmother had spirit pupils and that her poplar coffin had left her vulnerable to evil influences.
• Mei Sijun explained to Qin Manjiang that ghost stories and Taoist knowledge had been passed down through generations.
• Mei Sijun revealed that Zhong Xueran came from a family with Taoist connections and urged Qin Manjiang to ask her about the Three Pure Ones Bell.

After Qiao Ziruo’s grandmother’s grave was disturbed, the old Taoist gathered her bones and explained that her lost soul might return that night. Qiao Ziruo feared the soul might no longer be her grandmother, while Qin Manjiang resolved to resist the Eye Realm’s control as they headed to her former home.

• Qin Manjiang stopped the old Taoist from leaving and demanded a way to deal with Qiao Ziruo’s grandmother’s remains.
• The old Taoist realized Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and Qiao Ziruo all had Spirit Pupils and wondered whether the Eye Realm legend was true.
• The old Taoist used red silk and thread to gather the bones, then told Qiao Ziruo to place soil from beneath the coffin with them so her grandmother’s soul might return.
• Qiao Ziruo asked what would happen if the soul did not return, and the old Taoist warned that a vicious soul might emerge.
• Qiao Ziruo suspected her grandmother might already have been corrupted, but kept the fear to herself as she followed the old Taoist toward her former home.
• Qin Manjiang followed with Mei Sijun and resolved to resist the Eye Realm’s calculations.

Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun learned from the old Taoist that the Eye Realm Key could create a ghost story space anchored in reality, and that the Zhong family had once preserved secrets about the Eye Realm. The old Taoist’s account connected Little Chongyang Temple to Zhong Xueran’s ancestors, while Qin Manjiang remained unable to use the Eye Realm himself.

• Qin Manjiang asked the old Taoist whether people had souls after death, and the old Taoist said people with eyes like theirs did.
• The old Taoist prepared a mourning hall for Qiao Ziruo’s bones while Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun wondered how he recognized their Spirit Pupils.
• Qin Manjiang tried to activate the Eye Realm but found it still would not respond to him.
• The old Taoist identified the object as the Eye Realm Key and explained that using it during an anomaly created a separate realm anchored in reality.
• The old Taoist said Little Chongyang Temple had recorded secrets of the Eye Realm and that its keepers had been surnamed Zhong.
• Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun realized that the Zhong family’s descendants were trapped in the Eye Realm.

As Zhong Xueran grew anxious about visiting the area where [Wedding Dress] was located, Xu Yi called her on behalf of Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun, then confronted her about hiding her despair behind an energetic persona. He left her silent after urging her to stop imitating Yang and admit that she was struggling.

• Zhong Xueran reflected on the distortions in her vision and her unease about going to the area where [Wedding Dress] was located the next day.
• Xu Yi called Zhong Xueran and said Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun had questions for her, while he, Miss Qiao, and the two callers might be unable to return the next day.
• Xu Yi recalled how Zhong Xueran had helped him during his first multiplayer Ghost Story, [Corpse Transformation].
• Xu Yi told Zhong Xueran that he had seen her crying behind a tree and believed she was burning herself out while pretending to be cheerful.
• Xu Yi urged Zhong Xueran not to imitate Yang or seek meaning through others, and she remained silent.

Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and the Old Taoist tried to stop a Vicious Soul from returning through Qiao Ziruo’s grandmother’s bones. The bones stopped moving, but Qiao Ziruo disappeared, and the [Eye Realm] announced that the Ghost Story had taken shape.

• The Old Taoist’s Eternal Lamp went out as a freezing wind blew into the mourning hall, and he suspected the bones were not Qiao Ziruo’s grandmother’s.
• Water and mist formed throughout the hall, and the Old Taoist recognized the phenomenon as a Vicious Soul trying to return to life.
• Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun held down the skull and spine while the Old Taoist threw a tuft of flame into the skeleton’s chest, stopping the bones from thrashing.
• Qin Manjiang discovered Qiao Ziruo had vanished and asked the Old Taoist where she had gone.
• Qin Manjiang summoned the [Eye Realm], which reported that [Ghost Story: Soul Return] had taken shape.

Qiao Ziruo returned to Qiao Family Village in a strange, gray world and found a red coffin waiting at her home, unable to remember who had died. Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun found her alive outside the courtyard as [Eye Realm] announced the Ghost Story “Soul Return.”

• Qiao Ziruo rode an empty country bus toward Qiao Family Village, where a silent funeral procession carrying a red coffin crossed the road.
• Qiao Ziruo got off beneath strange scarlet sunlight and passed a black dog that watched her without barking.
• Qiao Ziruo wandered through the gray village, asked an old man for directions to Qiao Liang's house, and followed his guidance home.
• Qiao Ziruo found a red coffin in her courtyard and touched it, still unable to remember who was inside.
• Qin Manjiang saw a new Ghost Story appear in [Eye Realm], while Mei Sijun found Qiao Ziruo alive outside the courtyard fence.
• [Eye Realm] displayed the title “Soul Return” and the words, “Death here, life there; the person departs, the soul returns.”

After Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and Qiao Ziruo failed to meet them, Xia Nan led the other Players to Huai'an Residential Complex in the old town. The group arrived at the eerie courtyard beneath the old locust tree, where Xu Yi briefly saw Zhong Xueran in a wedding dress reflected in a car mirror.

• Xia Nan and seven other Players drove south after Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and Qiao Ziruo failed to show up.
• Shen Hai noticed birds flying without flapping their wings, and Yan Xiao identified them as dead things.
• The group reached Huai'an Residential Complex, where vendors and visitors moved quietly beneath the old locust tree.
• Liu Jingqing handed out Red Strings, and Xu Yi took one while watching Zhong Xueran.
• Xu Yi saw Zhong Xueran wearing a red wedding dress with pupil-less eyes in a car mirror, but she looked normal when he turned to her.

Qiao Ziruo encountered her grandmother in a strange, deserted courtyard and was led toward the house, while Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and an old Taoist discovered that her soul had been pulled into a new Ghost Story called Soul Return. The old Taoist rang a Three Pure Ones Bell to try to wake her before dawn.

• Qiao Ziruo embraced her grandmother, who told her to stay with her and claimed a distant relative had died.
• Qiao Ziruo noticed her grandmother was ice-cold and left no footprints in the flour-covered main room before vanishing into incense smoke.
• Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun found that Qiao Ziruo had fallen unconscious and that a Ghost Story named Soul Return had formed around the courtyard.
• The old Taoist explained that Qiao Ziruo's soul had been taken and that they had to bring it back before dawn.
• The old Taoist shook a Three Pure Ones Bell over Qiao Ziruo, hoping to wake her.

Mei Sijun and Old Taoist planned to enter Soul Return Night to find Qiao Ziruo after the Three Pure Ones Bell failed to bring her back. Qiao Ziruo wandered through the village, ate an offering, inhaled incense, and fled from an apparition before jolting awake beside Qin Manjiang.

• Old Taoist explained that the Three Pure Ones Bell could summon a Soul Return Ghost but could not free Qiao Ziruo, and Mei Sijun proposed using Yellow Springs Opera to reach her soul.
• Qiao Ziruo heard faint ringing and was drawn toward the coffin, but Grandma warned her not to touch anything in the death-haunted place.
• Hungry, Qiao Ziruo ate a steamed bun from the offering plate, spat it out in disgust, then followed the incense smoke into the main hall.
• Qiao Ziruo mistook a paper figure for Grandma, realized she was alone, and ran from the courtyard before Grandma caught her wrist and told her it was time to eat.
• Qiao Ziruo's elbow struck Qin Manjiang in the stomach as she awoke beside him, while Mei Sijun and Old Taoist planned for Mei Sijun and Qin Manjiang to enter Soul Return Night.

Xu Yi and the others entered the old courtyard beneath the pagoda tree, where most of the group fell into a trance of hopeful emotions. When Xu Yi touched two names carved into the trunk, he saw a vision of a groom climbing the tree over a field of twisted corpses and recognized Home Flower among them.

• Xu Yi warned the group that he had seen Zhong Xueran in a wedding dress in the car mirror, but their checks revealed no visible abnormalities.
• Xu Yi and Zhong Xueran entered the courtyard and joined the others beneath the pagoda tree.
• The tree drew most of the visitors into a trance, while Xu Yi and Chen Zhiyuan remained aware; Chen Zhiyuan said he sensed other people's emotions.
• Chen Zhiyuan showed Xu Yi the names Liu Junyan and Shen Hong carved into the tree trunk.
• Xu Yi touched the carvings and saw a vision of a groom climbing the tree above twisted corpses, including one he recognized as Home Flower.

The Infinite Eye Realm began the [Wedding Dress] Ghost Story and selected five players, including Xu Yi, Nie Yunzhen, and Zhong Xueran. As the selection seemed to end, the largest pupil pulled Qin Manjiang out of [Soul Return] and revealed Abyss.

• The Infinite Eye Realm summoned the players, but Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and Qiao Ziruo remained trapped in [Soul Return].
• The fifth Spirit Pupil announced [Wedding Dress], requiring players to survive for six hours at Huai'an Residential Complex three days later.
• The pupils selected Xu Yi, Fan Cheng, Nie Yunzhen, Yu Qinghuan, and Zhong Xueran for the Ghost Story.
• After the smaller pupils stopped moving, the largest pupil turned toward the void and pulled Qin Manjiang out of [Soul Return].
• Qin Manjiang appeared in the Infinite Eye Realm, cursing, as the name Abyss appeared above his head.