Recaps

Fan Cheng used Qin Manjiang’s doll to kill Liu Junyan, then died from his injuries after sending a message. At Huai'an Residential Complex, Zhong Xueran and Nie Yunzhen pulled Shen Hong from the Old Locust Tree, but she died as soon as she left the hollow.

• Fan Cheng heard a boy’s voice from Qin Manjiang’s doll, which asked whether he needed help as Liu Junyan prepared to stab him.
• Fan Cheng silently called for help, and the doll flew at Liu Junyan and bit his throat.
• Liu Junyan stabbed the doll, but it escaped with the knife embedded in it, leaving Liu Junyan to bleed to death.
• Fan Cheng sent a message by feel, then died beside Liu Junyan as the doll returned to stillness.
• Nie Yunzhen and Zhong Xueran pulled Shen Hong from the tree hollow, but her body withered and her awareness faded as soon as she emerged.

Yu Qinghuan fled toward the Old Locust Tree after realizing that restoring the wedding dress’s supply might stop its rampage, and she sent Nie Yunzhen a warning. The wedding dress killed the taxi driver and killed Yu Qinghuan before she could reach the tree.

• Yu Qinghuan rode toward Huai'an Residential Complex, worrying that the unrestrained wedding dress would hunt Players for food.
• The wedding dress formed in the taxi behind Yu Qinghuan, but she noticed it when the driver slammed on the brakes and jumped out.
• Yu Qinghuan ran toward the Old Locust Tree and messaged Nie Yunzhen to restore the supply, reasoning that Shen Hong’s return might keep the ritual going.
• The wedding dress twisted the taxi driver’s neck and tightened Yu Qinghuan’s clothes around her body as she struggled onward.
• A car hit Yu Qinghuan, killing her before she reached the Old Locust Tree.

After Qin Manjiang identified reversing the Sacrifice Ritual as the way to survive, Nie Yunzhen and Zhong Xueran investigated how Shen Hong served as its formation eye. Zhong Xueran concluded that they needed to swap Shen Hong and Liu Junyan’s roles, leaving Liu Junyan’s corpse as the key to reversing the ritual.

• Li Xijiu received Fan Cheng’s message that Liu Junyan had died after saying it was too late, then forwarded it to the other players.
• Qin Manjiang woke during surgery, told Yan Xiao to have Li Xijiu bring Liu Junyan’s body to the Old Locust Tree, and called Nie Yunzhen and Zhong Xueran to explain that they had to reverse the Sacrifice Ritual.
• Nie Yunzhen and Zhong Xueran received Yu Qinghuan’s warning that the ritual was out of control, then considered how Shen Hong’s transformation outside the tree hollow might reveal how to reverse it.
• Zhong Xueran entered the tree hollow to test whether a living person could replace Shen Hong, while the wedding-dress ghost appeared and attacked Nie Yunzhen, who led it into the Back Courtyard.
• Zhong Xueran realized that Shen Hong and Liu Junyan were both part of the ritual and concluded that reversing their roles required placing Liu Junyan’s corpse inside the tree hollow.

Zhong Xueran followed Qin Manjiang’s theory that reversing Shen Hong and Liu Junyan’s positions could undo the ritual, and set out to retrieve Liu Junyan’s body. Meanwhile, Nie Yunzhen was decapitated and devoured by the wedding dress, but the [Shared-Fate Lock] kept her alive as she wondered whether the others had succeeded and what price Yan Xiao’s Scalpel demanded.

• Zhong Xueran decided that switching Shen Hong and Liu Junyan’s positions was their only chance, and ran out to retrieve Liu Junyan’s body despite the uncertain plan.
• Nie Yunzhen found herself trapped in the back courtyard as the wedding dress arrived and took her head off without warning.
• The [Shared-Fate Lock] prevented Nie Yunzhen from dying, but its fifth use had already cost her thirty-one years of lifespan.
• The wedding dress’s tendrils burrowed into Nie Yunzhen and consumed her body until only a bloody skeleton remained, while she stayed alive.
• Nie Yunzhen recalled that Yan Xiao’s Scalpel was an unprecedented life-locking item and wondered what price he had to pay for using it.

Li Xijiu brought Jiang Du out through the blood-soaked doll and ordered him to eliminate the wedding dress’s ability to foresee the future, stopping its attack on Zhong Xueran. Jiang Du then entered Qin Manjiang’s body and left Yan Xiao and Li Xijiu wondering what Qin Manjiang would become.

• Li Xijiu realized the ritual reversal might fail and, unable to reach Nie Yunzhen, changed course toward the operating room.
• Nie Yunzhen deduced that Liu Junyan’s corpse and buried female corpses could reverse the vitality ritual, but the wedding dress began moving before she could act.
• Zhong Xueran’s clothes transformed into a wedding dress, and the ghost attacked her in an alley.
• Li Xijiu entered the operating room with the blood-soaked doll and summoned Jiang Du through the unconscious Qin Manjiang.
• Jiang Du used the doll to eliminate the wedding dress’s ability to foresee the future, stopping its attack on Zhong Xueran.
• A blood-red shadow entered Qin Manjiang, and Jiang Du warned Yan Xiao and Li Xijiu that their relationship with him might change.

After the Wedding Dress ghost story ended, the surviving Players searched for the now-inert dress and learned that Mei Sijun and Miss Qiao were missing. Qin Manjiang had also disappeared from Yan Xiao’s clinic, and the chapter ended with him approaching a girl at Cityheart Lake after mistaking her call for his sister.

• The surviving Players received the Game-cleared message and began searching Old Town and Wenshui District for the Wedding Dress, but it had vanished.
• The Players learned that Mei Sijun was missing and that his family believed he had gone on a trip; Yan Xiao later said Xia Nan had reported Mei Sijun was in Qiao Family Village.
• Nie Yunzhen, Shen Hai, Chen Zhiyuan, Yu Ruoli, and Liu Jingqing visited Yan Xiao’s clinic, where Yan Xiao told them Qin Manjiang had left and warned them not to look for him or Mei Sijun.
• At Cityheart Lake, Qin Manjiang mistook a girl’s call for her brother as a call to him and approached her, frightening her into running away.

After surviving the wedding dress ghost story, Qin Manjiang discovered that the flesh-and-blood craving he absorbed made him dangerous, especially around people close to him. While keeping his distance from others in Cityheart Park, he was accused of murdering a young girl's brother after she saw him lick his lips beside the corpse.

• Li Xijiu told Qin Manjiang that Jiang Du had used the doll to remove the wedding dress's craving for flesh and blood, and explained that the group had acted because there was no time for Qin Manjiang's plan.
• After waking from sedation, Qin Manjiang devoured raw beef but still struggled to control his appetite around Li Xijiu and Yan Xiao.
• Qin Manjiang realized his craving was strongest toward familiar people, so he decided to stay away from those he knew and quietly left the clinic after Li Xijiu departed.
• At Cityheart Park, Qin Manjiang saw a girl flee from him and scream for her brother as parkgoers gathered around a corpse with its abdomen opened and organs missing.
• Qin Manjiang licked his lips at the sight of the corpse, and the crying girl pointed at him and accused him of being the murderer.

After fleeing the park, Qin Manjiang was found in the fog by Flower, a player from Moon City whom he had released from the ten coffins in [Eye Realm]. She restrained him and led him away, saying the soul did not matter and that they would finish an unfinished game.

• Qin Manjiang fled the park after witnesses mistook him for the killer, while the little girl fainted and then acted as though she had just seen her brother's corpse.
• Alone at a crossing, Qin Manjiang felt lost and cut off from his friends, and he realized he could no longer sense Jiang Du inside his body.
• Flower appeared with an umbrella and offered to take Qin Manjiang back to Moon City; he recognized her as one of the players he had released from the ten coffins.
• Flower told Qin Manjiang that Bone had killed the man in the park and used the little girl to play a joke on him.
• Qin Manjiang denied being Jiang Du, but Flower said he was the person they were looking for and immobilized him.
• Flower identified herself by the code name Flower, told Qin Manjiang that the soul did not matter, and led him into the fog to finish an unfinished game.

Flower took Qin Manjiang to meet Kong, Moon City's former First Seat, who ordered him to return to Moon City with him in three days. After Flower revealed that one of Qin Manjiang's acquaintances belonged to their group, Kong violently punished her, and Qin Manjiang left wondering whether Jie or Yang was connected to them.

• Flower led Qin Manjiang to an abandoned factory, where he met Kong, Moon City's First Seat twenty years earlier.
• Kong offered Qin Manjiang the choice of dying or following him to Moon City; Qin Manjiang agreed to go but said he would not eat people.
• Kong explained that the urge to eat people depended on whether they had a Spirit Pupil, and said their shared goal was to end the Ghost Story Game.
• Flower hinted that one of Qin Manjiang's acquaintances belonged to their group, and Kong split her mouth with a grotesque injury before ordering her out.
• Kong told Qin Manjiang to return with him to Moon City in three days, and Qin Manjiang left thinking of Jie and the vanished Yang.

Qin Manjiang prepared to leave Fu City for Moon City, carrying unanswered questions about the people around him and the changes to his body. As he departed, Flower and Dog secretly followed him and vowed to protect him until the future arrived.

• Qin Manjiang accepted that he would go to Moon City with Kong in three days and wondered how leaving Fu City would affect his connection to its Ghost Story World.
• Qin Manjiang recalled Mi Qiao’s search for the [Eye Realm] item and suspected that Li Xijiu or Yan Xiao had taken it.
• Qin Manjiang returned to his rented apartment, packed his belongings, and feared that his body might turn him into a monster.
• Qin Manjiang left the apartment and shut the door behind him, leaving his life in Fu City behind.
• Flower and Dog watched Qin Manjiang depart, and Flower told Dog to protect him until the future arrived.

Qin Manjiang went to the Clear Pupil Bar intending to say goodbye from afar, but saw another man who looked exactly like him celebrating with his friends. As he reeled from the discovery, Yan Xiao covered his eyes and told him to come along.

• Qin Manjiang struggled to control his hunger and frightened a driver by staring at his throat.
• Qin Manjiang spotted Liu Jingqing carrying flowers to the Clear Pupil Bar and watched her join their friends inside.
• Qin Manjiang saw a man who looked exactly like him chatting with the group, while the others believed they had found Qin Manjiang and agreed to go with him to Qiao Family Village.
• The apparent Qin Manjiang glanced toward the real Qin Manjiang outside, and Yan Xiao came up behind him, covered his eyes, and told him to come along.

Yan Xiao helped Qin Manjiang evade several people watching him and explained how an impostor had taken Qin Manjiang’s place at the Clear Pupil Bar. The chapter ended with Yan Xiao suspecting that the impostor was Jiang Du.

• Yan Xiao drove Qin Manjiang away from the people following him and described three watchers: Flower and her companion, and Lin.
• Qin Manjiang discovered that wearing a mask helped him restrain his appetite, and Yan Xiao explained that he had recognized the impostor by the bandaging on his neck.
• Yan Xiao told Qin Manjiang that the impostor had taken his place at the Clear Pupil Bar and apologized to the Eye Realm members.
• Yan Xiao explained that he had waited outside the Clear Pupil Bar for Qin Manjiang, then drove them to a riverside walkway to check whether they were being followed.
• Qin Manjiang said he had not sensed Jiang Du since waking after the operation, and Yan Xiao suspected that Jiang Du was impersonating him.

Qin Manjiang told Yan Xiao about the forces drawing him to Moon City and confessed his uncertainty about his identity and future. Yan Xiao proposed that they overturn the game by saving both the people and ghosts they encountered.

• Qin Manjiang told Yan Xiao he doubted the other Qin Manjiang was Jiang Du, since Jiang Du seemed too proud to impersonate him.
• Qin Manjiang revealed that he planned to go to Moon City and recounted how he had released ten veteran Moon City players, who then demanded that he return with them.
• Qin Manjiang shared his confusion about his origins, his identity, and the purpose of the body Jiang Du had created.
• Yan Xiao told Qin Manjiang that Nie Yunzhen had called the contest between humans and ghosts God's game, and vowed not to let the people he met die.
• Yan Xiao urged Qin Manjiang to help save the ghosts they encountered too, declaring that they would overturn the arena.

After surviving the Ghost Story, Qin Manjiang left Fu City with Flower and Kong, while the remaining [Eye Realm] players set out to help Mei Sijun and Qiao Ziruo in Qiao Family Village. Zhong Xueran went to Yan Xiao’s clinic to investigate Xu Yi’s fate, and Qin Manjiang departed beneath the snow, vowing to return and challenge the being behind the game.

• Yan Xiao whispered something to Qin Manjiang before leaving, and Qin Manjiang then walked toward Flower with renewed resolve.
• Zhong Xueran found that her growing number of Spirit Pupils had distorted her vision, and she planned to visit Yan Xiao’s clinic to use her family’s tools on Xu Yi’s body.
• At the Clear Pupil Bar, Qin Manjiang joined Nie Yunzhen’s effort to unite players in helping with real-world Ghost Stories, and most players departed for Qiao Family Village.
• Snow fell across Fu City as the players on the bus headed toward Qiao Family Village, while Zhong Xueran stayed behind and Qin Manjiang watched the snowfall.
• Kong told Qin Manjiang that he and Flower would go to Moon City first, with Kong and Dog following separately.
• Qin Manjiang left Fu City with Flower, vowing to return either in ashes or after gouging out the eyes of the being that watched humanity.

Qin Manjiang explored Moon Bay with the talking doll on his shoulder while Flower and Kong discussed his worsening mental state. The chapter ended when Qin Manjiang touched a silent girl on the steps and her body shattered into ice, sending the crowd fleeing.

• Qin Manjiang followed the doll’s directions through Moon Bay while onlookers stared at him.
• Flower told Kong that Qin Manjiang was talking to the doll and following its instructions, and Kong said his mind was being eroded because raw beef could not satisfy the ghost part of his body.
• Qin Manjiang lost Flower and continued toward Moon Lake with the doll.
• Qin Manjiang asked a girl on the viewing steps if he could sit beside her, but she did not answer.
• Qin Manjiang touched the girl’s shoulder, and her body shattered into ice fragments as the crowd screamed and scattered.

After a girl shattered into frozen pieces at Moon Bay, Qin Manjiang reported her death and calmly recounted what he had witnessed to the police. Fang Xiu identified the victim as Chen Qiu, and Qin told him he knew who was killing people.

• Flower told Kong that a suspected Ghost Story phenomenon at Riverside had killed a girl, and Kong urged her to use the incident as a chance to return to Moon City's Game.
• Qin Manjiang called the Moon City Police Station to report a homicide at the Moon Bay viewing steps.
• Wang Pingchang and Fang Xiu examined the victim's frozen remains and found the murder scene gruesome.
• Qin calmly described how the victim shattered when he patted her shoulder, then asked why there were no surveillance cameras nearby.
• Fang Xiu identified the victim as Chen Qiu by a birthmark on her face, and Qin noticed Fang's reaction.
• Qin told Fang that he was there to help and asked whether Fang knew who was doing the killing.

Qin Manjiang learned that Moon City's [Eye Realm] had chosen a deadly alternative to its final game, while Fang Xiu suspected Qin Manjiang was connected to the killings. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang spotting a watcher as Kong warned that players might be becoming ghosts to hunt one another.

• Fang Xiu returned to Captain Wang Pingchang after questioning Qin Manjiang, and both men said Qin Manjiang looked familiar.
• Kong told Qin Manjiang that Flower had withdrawn and warned him to leave because Moon City's [Eye Realm] was dangerous.
• Kong explained that players could either light ten Spirit Pupils and let most players return to reality, or collect nine hundred and ninety-nine Spirit Pupils for one player to gain an extra life while the others were erased.
• Kong said Moon City's players might have forged a third path by merging with a Permanent Item, becoming a ghost story, and hunting the other forty-eight players until ten remained.
• Qin Manjiang noticed a tall, thin figure leaving the crowd, and his Doll called out for blood.

Kong sent Dog to protect Qin Manjiang, suspecting that Qin Manjiang’s identity was merging with Jiang Du’s. At the police station, Captain Wang Pingchang recognized Qin Manjiang as the vanished Jiang Du and feared Fang Xiu was in danger after Fang Xiu rejected his call.

• Kong told Dog that Qin Manjiang was becoming dangerous and ordered him to replace Flower as Qin Manjiang’s protector.
• Fang Xiu guided the special investigation team toward examining Chen Qiu’s movements before her murder, rather than focusing only on her social ties.
• Wang Pingchang searched for people resembling Qin Manjiang and found Jiang Du, a professor and suspected killer who had vanished twenty years earlier.
• Wang Pingchang realized that Chen Qiu had attended the university where Jiang Du had taught and called Fang Xiu, who rejected the call.

In Fu City, the Old Taoist warned that Mei Sijun and Qiao Ziruo were trapped in a ghost story created by someone, while Yan Xiao suspected the Doctor was responsible. In Moon City, Qin Manjiang confronted Fang Xiu with a story revealing the hunters’ scheme and implied that a companion’s conspicuously placed corpse had been deliberate.

• The Old Taoist woke in Qiao Ziruo’s courtyard, identified Zhong Xueran as a descendant of Zhong Xuming, and warned that Mei Sijun and Qiao Ziruo might lose control after becoming trapped in the ghost story.
• The Old Taoist said Qin Manjiang could use the Eye Realm Key to store Mei Sijun’s and Qiao Ziruo’s bodies, and Nie Yunzhen ordered the players to carry them to a car.
• Yan Xiao called the Doctor and asked whether he had caused the events in Qiao Family Village; the Doctor admitted he had experimented on whether a dead spirit pupil could create a ghost story.
• Yan Xiao reflected on the Doctor’s hidden knowledge and his agreement with Qin Manjiang to connect Fu City and Moon City.
• Qin Manjiang told Fang Xiu that Moon City’s players were hiding their identities, fusing with permanent items, and hunting one another after veterans halted new missions.
• Qin Manjiang described a companion’s corpse being placed in a crowded location and asked Fang Xiu what purpose it served; Fang Xiu panicked and shouted for him to stop.

Qin Manjiang drew out Fang Xiu’s account of Moon City’s Eye Realm changing into Hunting Mode, where fifteen players with merged Permanent Items hunted the rest. By questioning why the hunters relied on eerie powers, Qin Manjiang led Fang Xiu to realize that the mode’s rules might provide a way to survive and fight back.

• Qin Manjiang praised Doll for leading him to the scene of Chen Qiu’s death and persuaded Fang Xiu to explain Moon City’s Eye Realm.
• Fang Xiu said a strange player’s tainted blood erased the ten dark Spirit Pupil spots, after which Eye Realm announced that it was entering Hunting Mode.
• Fang Xiu explained that fifteen of the forty-nine players had Permanent Items merged into their bodies and were hunting the others, while his mutual aid group hid.
• Qin Manjiang asked Fang Xiu how he and the other players without Permanent Items could defend themselves against the hunters’ ghostlike powers.
• Fang Xiu realized that the hunters were being forced to use their eerie abilities, suggesting that Hunting Mode had rules and a possible path to survival.

Fang Xiu realized the hunters’ abilities could be turned against them, but Qin Manjiang warned that the killer might have identified the players and learned Fang Xiu had revealed Yan Yaoling’s new location. Yan Yaoling woke in her new room to find it encased in deadly ice, leaving her trapped.

• Qin Manjiang explained that hunters’ uncanny abilities could be exploited and warned Fang Xiu that his reaction to Chen Qiu’s death may have exposed him.
• Fang Xiu admitted that he had called Yan Yaoling and revealed the location where she was moving, and Qin Manjiang urged him to warn her again.
• Fang Xiu called Yan Yaoling but found her phone switched off, then drove with Qin Manjiang toward her prepared lodging.
• Yan Yaoling woke after midnight in the rental apartment, noticed the room was unnaturally cold, and heard a gasp from the ceiling.
• Yan Yaoling turned on the light and discovered that icicles covered the walls and floor, trapping her among sharp ice spikes.

Qin Manjiang wondered whether his missing sister Qin Manyi was among Moon City's pursuers, then learned that the mysterious Second Seat was Lian Yan, who had escaped from Ping'an Hospital. Fang Xiu brought him to the building where Yan Yaoling was waiting.

• Qin Manjiang reflected on how positive emotions were slowing the erosion of his reason, though they were becoming harder to summon.
• Qin Manjiang asked Fang Xiu whether he knew Qin Manyi, and Fang Xiu said he did not.
• Qin Manjiang suspected Qin Manyi might be the pursuer codenamed Evening Primrose and claimed he was helping Fang Xiu while searching for his missing sister.
• Qin Manjiang asked Fang Xiu about the player who had changed the Eye Realm, and Fang Xiu identified him as Lian Yan, the Second Seat.
• Qin Manjiang recognized Lian Yan as the person who had escaped from Ping'an Hospital, and the Doll on his shoulder cried out in excitement.
• Fang Xiu drove Qin Manjiang to the building where Yan Yaoling was upstairs.

Fang Xiu and Qin Manjiang found Yan Yaoling murdered and dismembered in her apartment, where ice covered the room. Qin Manjiang deduced that the killer could turn into ice and might still be nearby, then left Fang Xiu investigating and asked him to look into Mi Qiao from Moon City as an instance began.

• Fang Xiu rushed into Yan Yaoling's apartment and found her body cut into pieces and frozen among icicles.
• Qin Manjiang questioned Fang Xiu's panicked reaction and examined the wounds, noticing that the blood had been diluted with water.
• Qin Manjiang reasoned that the killer had entered the apartment and could transform into ice, possibly hiding in the unusually dry air-conditioner drain hose.
• Qin Manjiang left Fang Xiu to continue investigating and asked him to find information about Mi Qiao from Moon City.
• An instance began.

Fu City's Eye Realm began the new game, [Ghost Story: Sick Village], while Qin Manjiang struggled against its summons from Moon City. The selected players included Du Bi'an, Xu Tingfang, Yu Ruoli, Luo Chengyou, and Shen Hai, before a mysterious masked man appeared and was identified as Professor.

• Qin Manjiang told Kong that Fu City's Eye Realm was summoning him despite his stand-in, and Kong told him to hold on until Dog arrived.
• Qin Manjiang fought the summons in a Moon City restroom, unaware that water in the sink was flowing strangely.
• The Eye Realm summoned Fu City's players and announced [Ghost Story: Sick Village], with a three-day time limit.
• Du Bi'an, Xu Tingfang, Yu Ruoli, Luo Chengyou, and Shen Hai were selected for the game.
• A masked man appeared from nowhere, and the garbled name above him resolved into Professor.

Qin Manjiang received Snake’s [Hypocrisy] mask from Dog and used it before the [Eye Realm] summoned him into the Ghost Story. He entered Sick Village under the code name Professor, alongside five other chosen players, and the six were scattered after arrival.

• Dog gave Qin Manjiang Snake’s [Hypocrisy] mask and explained that it blocked emotions in Ghost Stories.
• Qin Manjiang put on the mask, and the [Eye Realm] summoned him as Professor rather than revealing his real name.
• Nie Yunzhen and the others questioned whether Jiang Du had emerged, while Qin Manjiang’s double helped conceal his identity.
• The [Eye Realm] selected Du Bi'an, Xu Tingfang, Yu Ruoli, Luo Chengyou, Player, and Professor for the Ghost Story Sick Village.
• The six players arrived in a miasma-covered place, were scattered at random, and heard the announcement that Sick Village had begun.