Recaps

He Jian, Shi Lianshan, and Chen Ping entered the Ancestral Hall grounds through a hidden hole, only to find themselves trapped in a silent domain. Inside, Chen Ping saw objects the others could not and appeared to reveal that he was already dead.

• He Jian, Shi Lianshan, and Chen Ping found the Ancestral Hall guarded and used a hidden hole in the wall to enter its grounds.
• He Jian and Shi Lianshan grew suspicious of Chen Ping’s behavior but followed him inside after the way out disappeared.
• The three entered the inner hall through an unsecured window and found an empty altar with extinguished Longevity Incense.
• Chen Ping claimed he could see sheep horns and a sheepskin on the empty trays, then showed signs of a violent death.
• Chen Ping asked He Jian and Shi Lianshan to tell him their wishes.

Chen Rui told Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing that the villagers had sacrificed Li Rong to the Immortal Sheep, but she vanished and people involved in the ritual were dying. As the festival’s draw began, the village chief’s corpse fell onto the platform, suspending the ceremony, and Qin Manjiang followed Wang Ju.

• Chen Rui described how the villagers had transformed Li Rong into the Immortal Sheep, then begged Qin Manjiang to save them from her revenge.
• Qin Manjiang questioned whether Li Rong was the ghost and reasoned that the people chosen as Immortal Sheep might have had their own chance to seek revenge through wishes.
• Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing went to the festival square, where Wang Ju revealed Chen Ping as this cycle’s Immortal Sheep and began the drawing.
• A wind swept through the square, and the dead village chief’s corpse crashed onto the platform, prompting Wang Ju to suspend the festival.
• Qin Manjiang saw Wang Ju flee and told Liu Jingqing to follow him.

Qin Manjiang explained his theories about controlling the Immortal Sheep and the dangerous price of wishes as he and Liu Jingqing followed Wang Ju to the Village Chief’s house. Inside the Ancestral Hall, Shi Lianshan wished to leave Xianyang Village alive in seven days, and Chen Ping granted it by devouring his limbs before turning on He Jian.

• Qin Manjiang told Liu Jingqing that the Village Chief’s house might contain a way to control the Immortal Sheep, and suspected Chen Ping could be a second, hastily created Immortal Sheep.
• Qin Manjiang speculated that wishes carried a price and that excessive wishes could bring terrible consequences, citing Zhang Yang and Chen Shixing’s deaths.
• Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing followed Wang Ju into the Village Chief’s house after seeing him enter.
• Chen Ping demanded that Shi Lianshan and He Jian make wishes in the locked inner hall of the Ancestral Hall.
• Shi Lianshan wished to leave Xianyang Village alive in seven days, and Chen Ping responded by pinning him down and eating his hands and legs while keeping him alive.
• Chen Ping turned toward He Jian and told him, "Your turn."

He Jian wished for the ghost to stop all activity for fifteen minutes, then helped the badly mutilated Shi Lianshan die at his own request. He fled the Ancestral Hall with the SUV keys and headed for the crowded village square before the ghost could move again.

• As the ghost approached, He Jian wished for it to cease all activity for fifteen minutes, and it froze in place.
• Shi Lianshan woke and begged He Jian to let him die rather than endure his injuries.
• He Jian covered Shi Lianshan's face with a blood-soaked shirt, and Shi Lianshan suffocated while urging the others to survive.
• He Jian took the SUV keys from Shi Lianshan and escaped the Ancestral Hall after breaking free of the guards.
• He Jian ran toward the village's central square, hoping the crowd would keep the ghost from appearing openly.

Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing followed Wang Ju into the old Village Chief’s home, where Wang Ju found the empty box that had once held a brush for controlling the Immortal Sheep. Li Rong’s ghost killed Wang Ju and cornered the two survivors, but Zhong Xueran appeared and transported them out of danger.

• Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing secretly followed Wang Ju through the old Village Chief’s home as he searched for an object that could control the Immortal Sheep.
• Wang Ju discovered the wooden box that had held the controlling brush, but it was empty.
• Li Rong’s ghost disguised herself as a mannequin head, seized Wang Ju, and swallowed him.
• Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing tried to escape the residence, but the doors and windows shut and Li Rong’s ghost trapped them.
• A bell rang outside the gate, and Zhong Xueran transported Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing away before introducing herself as So Annoying.

Zhong Xueran explained how she stole the brush that could control the Immortal Sheep and revealed that the village’s festival used human vessels to fulfill wishes. The three found Xianyang Village deserted, and He Jian warned them that Chen Ping was a ghost and was pursuing them.

• Zhong Xueran told Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing that her Three Pure Ones Bell had teleported them to safety and that she had entered the village six days earlier.
• Zhong Xueran explained that the village’s festival used a ritual to place the Immortal Sheep in a human vessel, and that the wealthy families’ wishes came at the victims’ expense.
• Zhong Xueran revealed that she had stolen the brush from the Village Chief’s house because it could protect her from and control the Immortal Sheep.
• Qin Manjiang, Liu Jingqing, and Zhong Xueran realized that they seemed to be the only people left in Xianyang Village, and Qin Manjiang suspected that Li Rong’s vengeful ghost and the Immortal Sheep were separate entities.
• He Jian appeared covered in blood and warned them to run to the central square because Chen Ping was a ghost pursuing them.
• Zhong Xueran asked whether one of the players with He Jian was named Chen Ping.

In the challenge-mode ghost story [Close Your Eyes], four players mistakenly voted for Yang Yiyi, and the incorrect vote killed her while leaving the real vengeful ghost unidentified. In Xianyang Village, Zhong Xueran explained how the Evil Curse Pendant had led to Chen Ping’s death, and Qin Manjiang noted that there had been three deaths.

• Ma Junzhe, Xu Qianxing, Du Bi'an, Xu Tingfang, and Yang Yiyi began the challenge-mode game, where they had to identify a vengeful ghost among ten people.
• The four players who recognized one another grew suspicious of Yang Yiyi, the only player none of them knew.
• All four voted for seat nine, where Yang Yiyi sat, but the vote was incorrect and Yang Yiyi was decapitated during the eyes-closed phase.
• The players learned that another one of the ghostly system players had also vanished, while the vengeful ghost remained among them.
• In Xianyang Village, Zhong Xueran explained that the Evil Curse Pendant let its user possess Chen Ping, who died during the possession and became the next Immortal Sheep.
• Qin Manjiang murmured that there had been three now.

Qin Manjiang realized the group might be trapped in Immortal Sheep’s silent domain as Li Rong’s head appeared on the black goats and they pursued the four survivors. With Chen Ping free to move again, Qin Manjiang assigned everyone a role in a plan to escape, then said he did not want any more regrets.

• Qin Manjiang suspected the goats had trapped the group in Immortal Sheep’s silent domain and questioned why Zhong Xueran had been leading them toward the central square.
• Liu Jingqing spotted Li Rong’s head on a goat, and the black goats transformed and charged after the group.
• He Jian realized his fifteen-minute wish had expired and Chen Ping could move again as Liu Jingqing struggled to keep running.
• Qin Manjiang ordered He Jian to lure Chen Ping away, Zhong Xueran to lead the goats away, and Liu Jingqing to use the writing brush to break the silent domain.
• Qin Manjiang left his own task unstated and told the others to trust him, saying he did not want any more regrets.

Liu Jingqing overcame her self-doubt and figured out how to use the brush to dispel the Immortal Sheep’s Silent Domain. As she raced toward the Ancestral Hall, Qin Manjiang encountered Chen Ping, who asked him to state his wish.

• Qin Manjiang split up with Liu Jingqing, assigning her to find a way to break the Silent Domain while He Jian and Zhong Xueran fled their pursuers.
• Liu Jingqing recalled that the brush’s mark matched the mark between Li Rong’s eyebrows and realized it had to be pressed against the Immortal Sheep’s brow.
• Liu Jingqing called Qin Manjiang, who suggested that the Immortal Sheep might be an inanimate object and referred her to the opening message before their call disconnected.
• Liu Jingqing connected the message about a pitch-black, narrow hole to the Ancestral Hall’s circular entrance and ran there, identifying it as the Immortal Sheep’s true body.
• Qin Manjiang came face-to-face with Chen Ping, who asked him to tell his wish.

Zhong Xueran deduced how the three ghosts’ abilities and the wish ritual worked, then used the Three Pure Ones Bell to evade the Black Sheep. He Jian received a suspicious message telling him to go to the Chen Family’s house, while Liu Jingqing broke the Silent Domain at the Ancestral Hall and discovered a vision revealing how Li Rong had died.

• Zhong Xueran reasoned that Chen Ping had inherited the wish-granting power, Li Rong collected death as payment, and only two people could make valid wishes.
• Zhong Xueran threw the Three Pure Ones Bell to distract the Black Sheep and escaped, allowing herself half an hour to act.
• He Jian remembered Shi Lianshan’s words about being the roof over his family and resolved to live, but stopped after receiving a message from Qin Manjiang directing him to the Chen Family’s house.
• He Jian questioned whether Qin Manjiang’s message was genuine and hesitated over whether to trust him.
• Liu Jingqing reached the Ancestral Hall and used her blood with the Writing Brush on its threshold, breaking the Silent Domain.
• Liu Jingqing saw the bodies inside the Ancestral Hall and received images showing how Li Rong had died, then walked into the hall.

Qin Manjiang escaped Chen Ping’s forced wish by reciting Liu Jingqing’s theory of the Sick Sheep Ghost Story, while Zhong Xueran reached the Chen family to claim the right to make a wish. As He Jian was killed and Zhong Xueran began her wish, Liu Jingqing took up the Immortal Sheep’s horns and skin and made her own wish.

• Qin Manjiang recited Liu Jingqing’s explanation of the village’s god-making ritual, causing Chen Ping’s ghost to vanish and his reflection to become a black sheep.
• Zhong Xueran met He Jian at the Chen family home, learned he had come at Qin Manjiang’s direction, and led him inside as Chen Ping and the black sheep approached.
• Zhong Xueran threatened a Chen family woman until she revealed that the Immortal Sheep was in the back courtyard, then explained her plan to He Jian.
• Chen Ping drew Zhong Xueran’s name and invited her to make a wish, but Li Rong’s ghost pierced He Jian’s chest and pulled out his heart.
• Liu Jingqing used the writing brush to perceive the black sheep horns and skin, put them on, and drove the horns into her temples to become the Immortal Sheep.
• As an overwhelming consciousness descended into her, Liu Jingqing said, “I wish...”

Zhong Xueran and Liu Jingqing made wishes to the Immortal Sheep, leading to Li Rong destroying Chen Ping and Green Vine, while Qin Manjiang confronted the ancient being behind Xianyang Village. Qin tricked the Immortal Sheep into failing a simple wish, and the Ghost Story Game destroyed it, clearing the Sick Sheep tale.

• Zhong Xueran wished that nothing in Xianyang Village could harm outsiders, but Chen Ping transformed into a giant black sheep and threatened her.
• Liu Jingqing wished for Li Rong to have her wish, and Li Rong attacked Chen Ping and Green Vine before dragging them into a fissure.
• Qin Manjiang recognized the black sheep as the source behind the village’s sacrifices and asked it to grant another wish.
• Qin Manjiang wished that one hair would not break for the next second, then snapped it to prove the Immortal Sheep had failed.
• The Ghost Story Game’s spiraling eye appeared and destroyed the Immortal Sheep, and Qin Manjiang’s phone announced that the Sick Sheep tale was cleared.

After surviving Sick Sheep, Qin Manjiang learned how Spirit Pupils and redeemable items worked and heard about the dreaded challenge story Ping'an Hospital. With Liu Jingqing recovering from surgery, Qin Manjiang faced a new beginning and decided to find a way to make money by using the empty room in his home.

• Qin Manjiang checked the game results, saw that he had earned five Spirit Pupils, and unlocked the item system.
• Zhong Xueran told Qin Manjiang that Liu Jingqing's surgery had succeeded, and Doctor explained how close her injury had come to major arteries.
• Zhong Xueran explained how Spirit Pupils were distributed and described a challenge mode that had accumulated ninety-six Spirit Pupils.
• Zhong Xueran revealed that the notorious challenge ghost story was called Ping'an Hospital, then ended the call by wishing Qin Manjiang a new beginning.
• Qin Manjiang realized he was short on money and decided to make use of the extra room while Qin Manyi stayed in a psychiatric hospital.

Horsehead with a Sword and the other survivors began the second round of the Sick Sheep Ghost Story, but Xu Qianxing was killed after declaring that he was not the ghost. The remaining players entered another failed vote with the ghost still among them.

• Horsehead with a Sword learned that a player had cleared a game and tried to prepare for the second round despite the players’ inability to communicate.
• Fragrant Grass at Sunset activated his Wraith Pupil, but it showed shifting viewpoints and changing potential victims, so he gave only his age.
• Ma Junzhe also gave his age, while Xu Qianxing used his turn to say that he was not the ghost.
• Xu Qianxing’s head exploded, and the game announced that he had violated a rule and advanced directly to voting.
• Ma Junzhe voted for an NPC, but the vote failed, leaving Horsehead with a Sword and the other survivors to continue the game with the ghost unidentified.

Ma Junzhe, Xu Tingfang, and Du Bi'an realized that the players themselves were the ghosts and agreed to vote for themselves, hoping a tie would end the game. Instead, the tie removed one spirit player, and the game continued as dawn broke.

• Ma Junzhe and Xu Tingfang concluded that the players themselves were the ghosts and considered voting for themselves.
• Du Bi'an realized the same thing and, when round three began, said he would vote for himself.
• Xu Tingfang and Ma Junzhe each announced that they would vote for themselves, and all three wrote their own names.
• The game declared a tie, reduced the number of spirit players by one, and continued without harming the three human players.
• The three saw that an NPC had vanished, and the game remained underway at dawn.

Qin Manjiang submitted his university withdrawal application and collected a mysterious package that had been left at school for a month. When he returned home, a strange young man arrived to rent his room after receiving a screenshot of Qin Manjiang’s listing from someone called Doctor.

• Qin Manjiang went to Fucheng University, where the class representative told him the adviser had approved a temporary leave of absence and showed him a package waiting at the men’s dormitory.
• Qin Manjiang collected the unmarked package and submitted his withdrawal application, which the academic affairs office quickly approved.
• Qin Manjiang returned home and found a young man in a white turtleneck waiting to rent the room for eight hundred.
• Qin Manjiang noticed the young man’s rental listing was a screenshot and saw a chat in which Doctor had told him to go there.

Qin Manjiang learned that the package came from his biological father, who had left him a mysterious case connected to the Game. After discovering a note from his mother and hearing that his adoptive parents may have been tied to Lower River Village’s ghost stories, he asked the doctor who his parents were.

• Qin Manjiang called the doctor, who said Lin had been sent to protect him because the case made him a target.
• Qin Manjiang opened the case and read his biological father’s letter about the Game, a hidden secret, and a door he had found but could not open.
• The doctor explained that the case had been entrusted to Qin Manjiang’s father and that opening it had signaled his location to people who might come after it.
• Qin Manjiang tried to return the case, but stopped when the doctor claimed his biological and adoptive parents had been killed and linked his arrival to Lower River Village’s ghost stories.
• Qin Manjiang reopened the case, found a phone and a longevity lock with a note signed Mom, and asked the doctor who his parents were.

Ma Junzhe, Xu Tingfang, and Du Bi'an tried to solve the game’s rules, and Ma Junzhe concluded that the Spirit Players were linked to the human players. In the fifth round, all three voted for a Spirit Player, but the vote failed and Ma Junzhe was killed as the game continued.

• Ma Junzhe, Xu Tingfang, and Du Bi'an forced a tie in the fourth round, leaving two Spirit Players and no clear solution.
• Du Bi'an wondered whether a player could be a ghost without knowing it, while Ma Junzhe reasoned that each Spirit Player was paired with a human player.
• Ma Junzhe used the speaking order and vanished Spirit Players to conclude that the final Spirit Player corresponded to him.
• Ma Junzhe, Xu Tingfang, and Du Bi'an all voted for the Spirit Player in the fifth round.
• The vote failed, and the Vengeful Ghost killed Ma Junzhe as the game continued.

Xu Tingfang realized the elected player became the ghost and had to open his eyes during verification, but he could not explain this to Du Bi'an. Du Bi'an opened his eyes, confirmed the vote was successful, and the two survivors escaped the game.

• Xu Tingfang deduced that the player with the most votes became the ghost and needed to open his eyes to verify the vote.
• During the sixth round, Xu Tingfang told Du Bi'an he had been in the Ghost Story Game for six months, and Du Bi'an said he had let his family down.
• Du Bi'an voted for himself and opened his eyes when the game instructed them to close them.
• Du Bi'an saw the verification prompt and wrote “Successful,” ending the game in victory for the players.
• The game shop returned to daylight, the other players and their bodies were gone, and Du Bi'an and Xu Tingfang embraced, relieved to have survived.

Qin Manjiang rejected Doctor’s attempt to involve him further and focused on earning money, but Zhong Xueran revealed that Yang had linked Abyss to Qin Manjiang in messages from a ghost story. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang suspecting that the vengeful ghost repeating their names might be Li Xijiu.

• Qin Manjiang told Doctor he would handle the inherited items himself, and Lin left after briefly speaking on the phone.
• Qin Manjiang questioned his biological father’s motives but remained determined to investigate whether the strange items were connected to his adoptive parents’ deaths.
• After the players learned that Abyss and Pond Fish had cleared Multiplayer Mode, Qin Manjiang declined invitations to meet and began delivering takeout for money.
• Zhong Xueran told Qin Manjiang that she and others planned to visit the ghost story’s location to look for Yang.
• Zhong Xueran revealed Yang’s messages asking whether Abyss was Qin Manjiang and reporting that a vengeful ghost repeated both names.
• Qin Manjiang suspected the ghost was Li Xijiu.

Qin Manjiang joined Chen Zhiyuan and Zhong Xueran to investigate Yang’s ghost story at the submerged Guanyin Village, hoping to learn about a ghost that might be his friend. The group set out for the village, while the reason the Ghost Story Game kept appearing in Fu City remained unknown.

• Zhong Xueran told Qin Manjiang that Yang’s ghost story was taking place at Guanyin Lake, the site of the village that had drowned twenty years earlier.
• Qin Manjiang met Chen Zhiyuan and Xin Danchen, who planned to send Xin into the game’s domain because she was an ordinary person and could enter.
• Chen Zhiyuan asked Qin Manjiang about the ghost, and Qin wondered whether it could retain memories of its life and be his friend.
• Chen Zhiyuan and Zhong Xueran warned Qin that ghosts were no longer the people they had been before.
• Qin asked why the Ghost Story Game always took place in Fu City, but Chen Zhiyuan said he did not know, and Zhong Xueran speculated that the city might be only the game’s prologue.

Qin Manjiang, Zhong Xueran, and Chen Zhiyuan tried to bring Xin Danchen to Guanyin Lake, but Yang emerged from the water as the Ghost Story Game ended and was attacked by the dead beneath the lake. After the group rescued Yang and escaped, he told Qin Manjiang that the ghost was different and seemed to have something to say to him.

• Qin Manjiang, Zhong Xueran, Chen Zhiyuan, and Xin Danchen arrived at Guanyin Lake to investigate Xin Danchen’s brother’s death.
• The Game ended just as the group prepared to send Xin Danchen onto the lake, and Yang appeared in the water, warning them to leave.
• Chen Zhiyuan paddled toward Yang, but the dinghy would not move, so he jumped into the water and found it filled with corpses and restless spirits.
• Zhong Xueran put Xin Danchen in the SUV while Qin Manjiang threw Yang a rescue rope, and Zhong used the vehicle to pull Yang and then Chen Zhiyuan ashore.
• The group fled Guanyin Lake in the SUV, and Zhong Xueran warned Xin Danchen that they brought misfortune.
• Yang thanked Qin Manjiang and said the ghost was different and seemed to have something to say to him.

Qin Manjiang reunited with his glasses and resolved to uncover his adoptive father's death, cure his sister, and find Li Xijiu. Back at his apartment, he agreed to let a stranded young woman and her little yellow dog stay despite her inability to pay the full rent.

• Yang returned Qin Manjiang's glasses, and Qin asked the group whether they knew the code name Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior.
• Yang refused to discuss Guanyin Village, apparently because its rules prevented him from revealing what had happened there.
• Walking home, Qin reflected on his unnaturally standardized habits and resolved to investigate his adoptive father's death, cure his sister, and find Li Xijiu.
• Qin found a young woman waiting outside his apartment with a suitcase and a dog, and learned that she had lost her phone and wallet.
• Qin let the woman stay despite her having only four hundred yuan, asking only that she stop the dog from licking his ankle.

Qin Manjiang prepared to ask Qin Manyi about Lower River Village before their visit to Sleep Mountain Psychiatric Hospital, but the Ghost Story Game summoned players for two scenarios. He was selected for the challenge-mode Butterfly Island story and received strict instructions to arrive at White Dew Bay the next afternoon, leaving Mi Qiao knocking at the bathroom door.

• Qin Manjiang gathered rumors about Lower River Village ahead of Old Qin's death anniversary and his planned visit with Qin Manyi.
• As Qin Manjiang ate with Mi Qiao, the drowning sensation returned and the Ghost Story Game began.
• The game selected players for My Aging Self, including the Ten Seats' Third Seat-Player, and then activated challenge mode for Butterfly Island with Qin Manjiang as Abyss.
• Qin Manjiang saw Butterfly Island's opening lines and sensed an eerie presence watching him.
• The game ordered Qin Manjiang and the other players to reach White Dew Bay by five the next afternoon and remain on Butterfly Island until they solved its ghost story; Mi Qiao knocked to check on him.

Qin Manjiang prepared to enter the Game, spoke with Zhong Xueran and his sister Qin Manyi, then arrived at White Dew Bay for Butterfly Island. He and Doctor reached the island after the boatman vanished into a swarm of insects.

• Zhong Xueran warned Qin Manjiang that Butterfly Island was dangerous and advised him to stay close to Doctor.
• Qin Manjiang called Qin Manyi, who asked him to visit Sleep Mountain Hospital within a month and told him to be careful.
• Qin Manjiang arrived at White Dew Bay at five o’clock and learned that four people had already gone to Butterfly Island.
• Doctor arrived at the dock, recognized Qin Manjiang, and boarded the boat with him.
• The boatman asked why they were going to Butterfly Island, then rotted away as black insects poured from his face.
• Qin Manjiang and Doctor reached Butterfly Island, where cold wind swept over a field of red flowers.