Recaps

The group found Wu Tiansheng in a snow cave, where he recounted how Chen Xin had attacked him after discussing the possibility that [One]'s consciousness was among the [Seven Children]. Qin Manjiang realized Wu Tiansheng had independently reached the same conclusion he had, leaving him unsure whether Wu Tiansheng or [Abyss] carried [One]'s consciousness.

• Qin Manjiang woke [Abyss], shared the recovered energy bars, and asked Wu Tiansheng what had happened with Chen Xin.
• Wu Tiansheng recounted finding Mom's corpse in a cabin and hearing Chen Xin theorize that the [Seven Children] might include [One]'s primary consciousness.
• Wu Tiansheng attacked Chen Xin with a wooden club, but Chen Xin dodged and struck him before fleeing the cabin.
• Wu Tiansheng said he escaped, sheltered in a snow cave, and later found the group's cabin.
• Qin Manjiang considered whether Wu Tiansheng was lying and whether he, rather than [Abyss], was the vessel for [One]'s consciousness.

Qin Manjiang stayed behind with [Abyss] and discovered that he was a being created by Jiang Du who was struggling to understand his own identity. Meanwhile, Chen Xin climbed the mountain and realized [One] could move between the [Seven Children], leaving him determined to warn the others.

• Hu Feifei, Xia Nan, and Wu Tiansheng continued toward the summit while Qin Manjiang stayed behind with the sleeping [Abyss].
• Qin Manjiang revealed he knew [Abyss] was pretending to be asleep and asked why he had taken the supplies; [Abyss] said he had set off alone to give the most promising person a chance to succeed.
• Qin Manjiang asked whether [Abyss] belonged to the Old Ten Seats, but [Abyss] denied it and identified himself as Abyss.
• When Qin Manjiang mentioned Jiang Du, [Abyss] clutched his head and questioned who he was, and Qin Manjiang offered to give him a name.
• Chen Xin reached the foot of the mountain and concluded that [One] could move between the [Seven Children], so any of them could be [One].

In the Snow Cave, Qin Manjiang and [Abyss] discussed [Abyss]'s lack of a name and the voice that had guided him. They concluded that they were inside [One]'s mental world and decided to reach the summit to uncover the memories [One] was avoiding.

• Qin Manjiang told [Abyss] that he deserved a name, and [Abyss] realized he wanted one for the first time.
• Qin Manjiang suspected Kong had arranged for the Paleontology Research Association to create [Abyss] as his replacement in Fu City's [Eye Realm].
• [Abyss] told Qin Manjiang that an unfamiliar voice had compelled him to leave the team and head for the summit alone.
• Qin Manjiang concluded that [One]'s consciousness was inside them and was driving the [Seven Children] toward death to become whole again.
• Qin Manjiang and [Abyss] reasoned that their altered memories were ones [One] could not face, and they set out to uncover them.

Xia Nan grew more suspicious of Wu Tiansheng and questioned whether Hu Feifei’s strange behavior was genuine. When Spider Woman appeared near the slope, Hu Feifei calmly walked toward it, leaving Xia Nan wondering why she and Qin Manjiang had both approached the ghost.

• Xia Nan examined Wu Tiansheng’s head wound and concluded that his account of being attacked from behind by Chen Xin did not fit the injury or his likely actions.
• Xia Nan considered whether Hu Feifei was affected by a ghost’s ability or pretending to be mad, while remaining uncertain about her changing behavior.
• Snow began falling, and Xia Nan spotted Spider Woman emerging near the slope where Wu Tiansheng had gone.
• Xia Nan pulled Hu Feifei behind a snowy slope, but she pointed out that their footprints revealed their hiding place.
• Hu Feifei asked Xia Nan to release her, then walked toward Spider Woman without showing fear.

Qin Manjiang and Abyss reasoned that changing the plot brought them closer to the true memories and Spider Woman, while [One]'s consciousness tried to prevent that. They met Chen Xin on the mountain, learned that [One] had possessed Wu Tiansheng, and Qin Manjiang suggested Spider Woman might be [One]'s younger sister.

• Qin Manjiang and Abyss concluded that [One] embellished the seven children's memories and that plot changes drew Spider Woman closer to them.
• Abyss reasoned that they needed to alter the plot and overcome their fear to approach Spider Woman and the true memories.
• Qin Manjiang and Abyss encountered Chen Xin, who said he had escaped Wu Tiansheng after discovering that [One]'s consciousness controlled him.
• Chen Xin recounted how touching Mom's corpse transferred a lingering chill from him to Wu Tiansheng, and said he suspected [One] was a victim rather than the ghost.
• Qin Manjiang told Chen Xin about Spider Woman and suggested she might be [One]'s younger sister.

Hu Feifei recalled how [One]'s consciousness had protected her from the giant ghost's deadly mental curse, and approached Spider Woman believing she was the Path to Survival. Spider Woman killed Hu Feifei in front of Xia Nan.

• Hu Feifei realized [One]'s consciousness had entered her after she stepped on a corpse and had later taken the giant ghost's curse in her place.
• Hu Feifei concluded that approaching Spider Woman could wake [One] and the [Seven Children] from their distorted mental world.
• Hu Feifei remembered Xia Nan instinctively pulling her to safety and reflected that players should not become numb to others' suffering.
• Hu Feifei walked toward Spider Woman as Xia Nan watched from behind a snowy slope.
• Spider Woman raised her head and severed Hu Feifei's head, leaving Xia Nan staring at her dying gaze.

After Hu Feifei was killed by Spider Woman, Xia Nan fled and continued searching for a way to survive. Meanwhile, Qin Manjiang told Chen Xin and Abyss that they were inside overlapping mental worlds and dreams, with Wu Tiansheng as the dreamer of their current world.

• Xia Nan saw Hu Feifei's severed head and suspected Wu Tiansheng had triggered the plot that brought Spider Woman there.
• Xia Nan urged Wu Tiansheng to split up, then fled when Spider Woman appeared where he had been hiding and seemed to pursue him.
• Xia Nan reasoned that approaching Spider Woman was part of the survival path, but touching it had killed Hu Feifei, so he considered climbing to the summit.
• When the snow stopped, Qin Manjiang saw the text appear on his Invitation and concluded that Hu Feifei had died.
• Qin Manjiang told Chen Xin and Abyss that they were not real people and theorized that the seven players occupied simultaneous, nested mental worlds, with Wu Tiansheng dreaming the world they were in.

Qin Manjiang told Chen Xin that the snow revealed how [One] monitored their thoughts in a mental world, and that Hu Feifei’s death had created a brief chance to act. He revealed his connection to [Abyss] and urged Chen Xin to help ensure the Fu City players died in the Ghost Story Game rather than the real world, while warning that the sealed, unusually dangerous curse could bring unpredictable threats.

• Qin Manjiang argued that the snow stopped after Lin Ruonan and Hu Feifei died because their emotions had ceased, and that the pauses concealed the players’ thoughts from [One].
• Chen Xin rejected Qin Manjiang’s detached attitude toward Hu Feifei’s death and began to walk away.
• Qin Manjiang removed the White Mask, revealing that his face matched [Abyss]’s, and told Chen Xin that [Abyss] was a brother whose fate was linked to his.
• Qin Manjiang warned that two outsiders might be behind the disappearances of Fu City players and said they should die in the Ghost Story Game, trusting Yan Xiao’s promise to protect everyone in Fu City’s Eye Realm.
• Qin Manjiang resolved to have the group face Spider Woman or [One] soon because the Ghost Story contained an unusually powerful vengeful ghost that had sealed all item effects.

Qin Manjiang, Chen Xin, and Abyss discussed how to use [One]'s possession of a player to reach Spider Woman, and Chen Xin reasoned that a different kind of death might allow players to survive. They realized Abyss had drawn [One] in by touching his own skin, leaving them to question whether his body was already a corpse.

• Qin Manjiang explained that finding [One]'s host and making the host approach Spider Woman seemed impossible, so he proposed killing players until only one remained, while sparing Wu Tiansheng.
• Chen Xin confirmed that touching a corpse had caused [One] to possess him and suggested that players might survive if Qin Manjiang killed them instead of Spider Woman.
• Qin Manjiang questioned where Wu Tiansheng's path to survival was and asked whether [One] had been inside Abyss when Abyss acted on a sudden thought.
• Chen Xin asked whether Abyss had touched a corpse at the time, and Abyss revealed that he had wiped snow from his eyes with his bare hand.
• Qin Manjiang and Chen Xin realized Abyss may have drawn [One] in by touching himself and wondered whether Abyss's body was a corpse.

After the group realized Abyss’s body could host [One]’s consciousness, [One] transformed into a powerful Vengeful Ghost and pursued Qin Manjiang and Chen Xin. Xia Nan, fleeing separately, considered how to trap [One] inside his own body so they could approach Spider Woman.

• Abyss removed his gloves and touched his eyes, allowing [One]’s consciousness to enter his body as Wu Tiansheng regained control and fled uphill from Spider Woman.
• [One] realized Qin Manjiang and Chen Xin had seen through his disguise, transformed Abyss into a towering Vengeful Ghost, and began hunting them.
• Qin Manjiang and Chen Xin fled in different directions, while [One] pursued Qin Manjiang and suspected he was being lured away from the others.
• Qin Manjiang continued running downhill as he considered that Abyss’s body had truly been a corpse.
• Xia Nan stopped to rest and reasoned that the Players might need to carry [One]’s consciousness within them to pass through Spider Woman, but he did not know how to imprison it in his body.

Xia Nan was left hanging from a snowy cliff after a terrifying roar distracted him, while Qin Manjiang revealed that he had baited [One] into possessing him. [One] entered Qin Manjiang’s body, where a flippant voice welcomed him.

• Xia Nan, Chen Xin, and Wu Tiansheng heard a piercing roar from down the mountain, and Xia Nan hurried toward the summit.
• Xia Nan slipped on loose snow at a ledge and ended up dangling over a cliff, unable to see or safely call to anyone who might pass.
• [One] chased Qin Manjiang along remote, dangerous routes until Qin Manjiang stopped and took a piece of flesh from his jacket.
• Qin Manjiang touched the flesh and taunted [One], who was pulled into Qin Manjiang’s body as his ghost form returned to Abyss’s appearance and collapsed.
• A flippant voice greeted [One] from inside Qin Manjiang’s body.

Xia Nan was rescued by Wu Tiansheng, but Spider Woman continued pursuing them up the mountain. Xia Nan drew the ghost toward himself while Wu Tiansheng raced for the summit, leaving their chances of survival dependent on whether he could reach it in time.

• Wu Tiansheng pulled Xia Nan up from the cliff, and Xia Nan asked why a ghost had appeared behind him.
• Wu Tiansheng warned that Spider Woman was approaching, and the two saw her climbing steadily toward them.
• Xia Nan split from Wu Tiansheng and ran left to draw Spider Woman away while Wu Tiansheng headed right toward the summit.
• Wu Tiansheng stripped off his bulky clothes and vowed to reach the summit within fifteen minutes.
• Xia Nan waited for Spider Woman to notice him, then ran left to keep her focused on him and give Wu Tiansheng time.

Qin Manjiang explained how [One] possessed people and argued that a terrifying being on Snow Summit was the true threat behind the spirit world. He stalled [One] to keep him from returning to Wu Tiansheng, then called on Chen Xin to switch bodies and restrain him.

• [One] entered Qin Manjiang's body but found he could not take absolute control, while Jiang Du awakened inside Qin Manjiang.
• Qin Manjiang deduced that [One] moved between people when they touched corpses and that Wu Tiansheng was his permanent vessel.
• Qin Manjiang explained that [One] had used Hu Feifei and others to start the plot, and that Spider Woman was the exit while [One] was its key.
• Qin Manjiang revealed his belief that a being on Snow Summit had shaped the spirit world and was the true terror awaiting [One] outside it.
• [One] realized Qin Manjiang was stalling him, and Qin Manjiang called to Chen Xin to switch and keep [One] locked up.

Qin Manjiang escaped after [One] took control of Chen Xin, while Xia Nan used an avalanche to stop Spider Woman’s pursuit. Xia Nan survived being buried in the snow, but Spider Woman’s fate remained unknown.

• [One] took control of Chen Xin, but fell when Chen Xin’s tied shoelaces bound his feet, giving Qin Manjiang and Abyss time to escape.
• Spider Woman chased Xia Nan as he tried to draw her away from Wu Tiansheng, who was heading for the snowy summit.
• With Spider Woman closing in and his strength spent, Xia Nan slid down a steep snowy slope and stopped without suffering major injuries.
• Xia Nan noticed the snow trembling and shouted to trigger an avalanche that buried Spider Woman and swept over him.
• After the avalanche stopped, Xia Nan freed his chest enough to breathe and survived beneath the snow.

Wu Tiansheng raced to the summit while Qin Manjiang, Abyss, Chen Xin, and Xia Nan took turns holding [One] back to buy him time. He scaled the sheer cliff and reached the glowing point at the route’s endpoint, hoping to escape in time to save Xia Nan.

• Wu Tiansheng heard Xia Nan scream and rushed toward the summit cliff, while the others focused on delaying [One].
• Qin Manjiang, Abyss, Chen Xin, and Xia Nan successively took on the task of keeping [One]'s consciousness contained so Wu Tiansheng could continue.
• Wu Tiansheng climbed the cliff, overcame a crosswind, and pulled himself over the final ledge despite his exhaustion.
• Wu Tiansheng spotted a basketball-sized point of light at the center of the summit and crawled toward it, hoping to reach Xia Nan before it was too late.

Wu Tiansheng brought the group out of [One]’s Spirit World, but they encountered a colossal ghost on Snow Summit. Jiang Du and Li Xijiu invoked [Eye Realm] to clear the game, leaving its confrontation with the ghost unresolved as the group lost consciousness.

• Wu Tiansheng touched the speck of light, and Qin Manjiang, Chen Xin, Xia Nan, and Wu Tiansheng awoke together on Snow Summit with their bodies restored.
• The group found Lin Ruonan and Hu Feifei dead, then saw [One] rise as a barely living corpse from the snow.
• A colossal ghost transformed the summit into a disorienting landscape, seized the five, and lifted them above its enormous mouth.
• Jiang Du took control of Qin Manjiang, while Li Xijiu took control of Xia Nan; they produced an [Eye Realm] phone and threw an Eye Pupil into the giant ghost’s mouth.
• The [Eye Realm] pupils appeared in the sky, and the game announced that “Seven Children” had been cleared, but the players remained suspended as the pupils confronted the ghost.
• The five lost consciousness as the pupils burst and blood-like rain fell over the giant ghost, which remained standing on the summit.

After clearing [Seven Children], Qin Manjiang returned to Moon City and reconsidered what the [Eye Realm] was, concluding that it was a mysterious creature rather than a game run by a god. He decided to return to Fu City to investigate, while learning that the seafood shop proprietress had gone there to visit an old friend.

• Qin Manjiang woke in the real world after [Seven Children] and told Qin Manyi that he needed to return to Fu City.
• Qin Manjiang reflected on the giant ghost, Jiang Du and Li Xijiu’s intervention, and the possibility that the [Eye Realm] was itself a vengeful ghost governing the game.
• Qin Manjiang considered the people connected to the [Eye Realm] and the Paleontology Research Association’s interest in Jiang Du, but chose not to call Zhong Xueran.
• Qin Manjiang learned from Qin Manyi that the seafood shop proprietress had gone to Fu City to visit an old friend.
• Qin Manjiang told Qin Manyi that he was leaving for Fu City because he needed to investigate matters in person.

Zhong Xueran visited Little Chongyang Temple to find the ancestral text known as the Eye Realm Secrets, but discovered the temple had been renovated and taken over by Daoist Li. She learned a private organization from Moon City funded the work and suspected it had taken the text.

• Zhong Xueran climbed to Little Chongyang Temple and found it renovated and open to worshippers.
• Zhong Xueran paid the admission fee, then went to the meditation room to confront the temple's owner.
• Daoist Li told Zhong Xueran that her father, Zhong Baifeng, had once been his fellow disciple under the name Zhang Baifeng.
• Daoist Li explained that officials had appointed him to take over the registered temple, while a private organization from Moon City had paid for its renovation.
• Daoist Li named the organization as the Paleontology Research Association, and Zhong Xueran suspected it had taken the Eye Realm Secrets.

Yan Xiao’s exhaustion worsened as he paid the price for his condition, while Qin Manjiang returned to Fu City and arranged to meet him. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang finding Yan Xiao, Shen Hai, and Abyss waiting together at the airport.

• The nurses speculated about Yan Xiao’s unusual, frequent naps, while he slept and briefly became indistinct before returning to normal.
• Qin Manjiang called Yan Xiao and arranged to meet him in Fu City, saying he would bring trustworthy people.
• At the airport in Moon City, Qin Manjiang gave Qin Manyi Fang Xiu’s number and identified him as a newly recruited criminal police officer and a Moon City Eye Realm player.
• Qin Manjiang landed in rainy Fu City and found Yan Xiao, Shen Hai, and Abyss waiting together.
• Shen Hai questioned Qin Manjiang about why he had brought two men to the airport to meet another man.

Qin Manjiang gathered Yan Xiao, Shen Hai, and Li Xijiu to explain what he had learned about Moon City's Eye Realm and the different way it was progressing. He revealed that Moon City was in Hunting Mode and ended by asking Abyss if he was from Moon City.

• Qin Manjiang rode with Yan Xiao to a riverside club and said he had invited Abyss to put on a show for the people watching him.
• Qin Manjiang, Yan Xiao, and Shen Hai waited at the club until Li Xijiu arrived in Xia Nan's body, already aware that Qin Manjiang's Fu City presence was a stand-in.
• Qin Manjiang said Fu City had three Ultimate Games left before its ten Spirit Pupil Dark Spots were lit and that he had returned to discuss what came next for the Eye Realm.
• Qin Manjiang revealed that Moon City also had an Eye Realm, which had entered Infinite Eye Realm mode and then switched to Hunting Mode after a player contaminated a Spirit Pupil Dark Spot.
• Qin Manjiang explained that Moon City's hunters and prey were killing one another until only ten players remained, unlike Fu City's three remaining Ultimate Games.
• Qin Manjiang turned to Abyss and asked whether he was from Moon City.

Qin Manjiang revealed that he was an empty shell prepared for Jiang Du and recounted how Li Xijiu had drawn him into the Ghost Story Game. He told everyone he had already redeemed a chance to leave the Game permanently, prompting Li Xijiu to violently object.

• Qin Manjiang confirmed that Abyss was a stand-in like him and explained that he had come to see Abyss after obtaining Dr. Zhou's permission.
• Qin Manjiang recounted how he had been prepared as Jiang Du's body and how Li Xijiu's call led him into the Ghost Story Game.
• Qin Manjiang revealed his suspicion that Li Xijiu had been the ghost in his beginner tutorial and that the story had been planned specifically to draw him in.
• Qin Manjiang told the group about his experiences, including what happened in Moon City, while withholding his suspicions about Li Xijiu's death.
• Qin Manjiang said he had more than five hundred Spirit Pupil Points and had already redeemed a chance to leave the Game permanently, and Li Xijiu stood up and shouted no.

Qin Manjiang explained why he had returned to Fu City and shared his suspicions that Yang might have survived by leaving the Eye Realm. The discussion pointed toward Guanyin Lake and Li Xijiu’s hidden past, but Xia Nan suddenly collapsed before Qin Manjiang could question him.

• Qin Manjiang told everyone he planned to face a solo ghost story at Guanyin Lake in five days, and Yan Xiao guessed that he had deliberately left Chen Zhiyuan uninformed.
• Qin Manjiang outlined his suspicion that Yang might have cleared a personal challenge and escaped the Eye Realm, while Shen Hai revealed that Yang’s last contacts had been Chen Zhiyuan and Zhong Xueran.
• The group considered Zhong Xueran’s unusual permanent item, the Three Pure Ones Bell, and its connection to the single-use Single Pure Bell.
• Yan Xiao reminded Qin Manjiang that Guanyin Lake was the ghost story Yang had investigated, where a vengeful ghost had muttered “Abyss” and “Qin Manjiang.”
• Qin Manjiang remembered that Li Xijiu had been at Guanyin Lake, then saw Xia Nan close his eyes and slump limply in his seat.

After Li Xijiu disappeared, Qin Manjiang learned more about Xia Nan’s shared consciousness and discussed evidence that Yang’s special challenge had begun before his death. A call to Zhong Xueran instead revealed that she had vanished near Little Chongyang Temple, sending Qin Manjiang and the others to investigate.

• Qin Manjiang apologized to Xia Nan for involving him, but Xia Nan said he had willingly sought the hidden side of the world.
• Xia Nan explained that since the [Seven Children] Ghost Story, his consciousness had coexisted with Li Xijiu’s and could observe events when Li occupied his body.
• Yan Xiao reported that Yang’s corpse showed no signs of struggle, and Shen Hai suggested the special challenge had already started; Qin Manjiang decided he would enter the challenge to learn the truth.
• Shen Hai called Zhong Xueran, but a man answered and said she had disappeared after making strange sounds outside Little Chongyang Temple.
• Qin Manjiang asked where the temple was and learned it was a two-hour drive northwest of Fu City.

Qin Manjiang sent Abyss to investigate Guanyin Lake while he went with Xia Nan, Shen Hai, and Yan Xiao to Little Chongyang Temple to help Zhong Xueran. On the drive back to Clear Pupil Bar, Qin Manjiang explained how he and Abyss had begun forming identities of their own, but Abyss naming Xu Yi made Qin Manjiang suspect that Abyss had been created using Xu Yi’s corpse.

• Yan Xiao asked Abyss to accompany Qin Manjiang and investigate Guanyin Lake, while he, Xia Nan, and Shen Hai headed for Little Chongyang Temple to reach Zhong Xueran quickly.
• Qin Manjiang and Abyss drove toward Clear Pupil Bar, and Abyss asked why Qin Manjiang trusted him so much.
• Qin Manjiang explained that he had once imitated people around him while searching for an identity beyond the one programmed into him as Jiang Du’s puppet.
• Qin Manjiang told Abyss that imitation could help them develop independent selves, then asked who had left the deepest impression on him.
• Abyss named Doctor Yi and Xu Yi, and Qin Manjiang wondered whether Abyss had been made from Xu Yi’s corpse.

After learning that the Zhong Family’s possessions had been taken by the Paleontology Research Association, Zhong Xueran encountered a mysterious woman with a red umbrella on the mountain. When the woman asked for directions to Meat Slope, Zhong Xueran used her father’s advice to give a vague answer and offered to lead her there.

• Zhong Xueran learned from Daoist Li that the Paleontology Research Association had taken the Zhong Family’s possessions from Little Chongyang Temple.
• Zhong Xueran left the temple and spotted a woman carrying a red umbrella on the mountain path, prompting her to turn back.
• A red-umbrella woman appeared both uphill and downhill, trapping Zhong Xueran as an icy presence approached behind her.
• The woman asked Zhong Xueran how to get to Meat Slope, a place Zhong Xueran did not know.
• Zhong Xueran recalled her father Zhong Baifeng’s advice to answer a ghost’s question vaguely and told the woman, “I’ll take you there.”