Recaps

Shen Hai revealed that Qin Manjiang’s Permanent Item could back up players in the [Eye Realm], and demanded a reserved slot in exchange for his secrets. He then disclosed that his item had shown current players searching through past ghost stories, leaving Qin Manjiang and the others to wonder whether they had been there more than once.

• Shen Hai arrived uninvited at Qin Manjiang’s gathering and explained that Qin Manjiang’s [Eye Realm] could preserve players and potentially resurrect them after death.
• Chen Zhiyuan’s question revealed that he also knew about backups, while Qin Manjiang reflected on his connection to Jiang Du and his intention to tell everyone the truth.
• Shen Hai demanded a slot in the [Eye Realm] in exchange for everything he knew, and Qin Manjiang agreed.
• Shen Hai described his Permanent Item, [Faded Memories], and how it revealed fragments of a ghost story’s past.
• Shen Hai said he had seen current players searching through those past scenes for a man and a woman, possibly across multiple rounds.

Shen Hai revealed that two people searching for [Eye Realm] might be impossible to observe or remember because they did not belong to the current time and space. As Shen Hai pressed Qin Manjiang to use [Eye Realm] to leave him a backup, the others warned Qin Manjiang about the cost, and he began to suspect the item held earlier backups.

• Shen Hai explained that he had seen a man and a woman searching for [Eye Realm], but could not recall their appearances, suggesting either his memory had been altered or they did not exist in the current time and space.
• Shen Hai said he had used [Faded Memories] to investigate [Eye Realm] and only confirmed it was with Qin Manjiang after the [Forensic Doctor] entered the game.
• Zhong Xueran wondered whether one of the two people might be among those present, while Shen Hai said he only wanted to leave a backup of himself.
• Shen Hai urged Qin Manjiang to activate [Eye Realm], but Zhong Xueran, Xu Yi, Mei Sijun, Chen Zhiyuan, and Liu Jingqing warned him that granting Shen Hai an extra life could carry a severe cost.
• Qin Manjiang considered why anyone would travel through time and space to find [Eye Realm] and suspected it might contain the previous batch of backups.

Qin Manjiang activated [Eye Realm] to create a backup of Shen Hai, but discovered ten sealed Spirit Coffins and unsealed them all at once. He lost consciousness as the coffins opened, while Jiang Du addressed the beings inside as the Ten Seats from twenty years ago.

• Shen Hai negotiated directly with Qin Manjiang for a backup, and Qin Manjiang agreed despite Zhong Xueran's objection.
• Qin Manjiang activated [Eye Realm] and found himself in a dark abyss surrounded by ten enormous coffins.
• Qin Manjiang agreed to unseal the Ten Spirit Coffins, triggering intense pain as they began to open.
• Jiang Du revealed that Qin Manjiang had awakened the Ten Seats from twenty years ago and said he was still alive.
• The coffins opened fully, and Qin Manjiang lost consciousness after coughing up blood in the Clear Pupil Bar.
• Yan Xiao and Xia Nan checked Qin Manjiang and confirmed that he was alive but unconscious.

After Qin Manjiang collapsed from using [Eye Realm], a new wave of dangerous strangers appeared across Fu City while the group discussed how Liu Jingqing and Xia Nan should approach [Death as Scheduled]. Shen Hai agreed to help after Xu Yi argued that assisting Qin Manjiang’s friends could benefit him later.

• Shen Hai confirmed that Qin Manjiang had lost consciousness, and Xu Yi urged the group to discuss the coming Ghost Story.
• A confused woman appeared in the rain, lured an umbrella-carrying man close, and devoured him with tentacles and bloody teeth.
• Strange, dangerous people began appearing throughout Fu City.
• Zhong Xueran, Mei Sijun, Chen Zhiyuan, and Xu Yi discussed the unknown fate and lack of time or location restrictions in [Death as Scheduled].
• Xu Yi persuaded Shen Hai that helping Liu Jingqing and Xia Nan could earn Qin Manjiang’s favor, and Shen Hai asked to hear the order.

Shen Hai argued that the ghost story’s death order should be disrupted and warned that its unrestricted curse might attach to the players. After Qin Manjiang woke, Mei Sijun recognized that Jiang Du had taken over his body, and Jiang Du called Shen Hai away to fulfill a promise.

• Shen Hai explained that the players should change any order or pattern the ghost story used to kill them, and he suspected its supernatural threat would be an attached curse rather than a physical ghost.
• Xu Yi warned Xia Nan and Liu Jingqing that once the game began, they would have to fend for themselves because no one could know whether a curse might spread.
• Qin Manjiang woke, but Mei Sijun stopped him and identified him as Jiang Du rather than Qin Manjiang.
• Jiang Du explained that he had taken over to store the players’ backup in the [Eye Realm] and asked Shen Hai to come with him.

Jiang Du offered Shen Hai a deal involving the past and future, promising it could bring Ling back, while Qin Manjiang recovered and learned he could no longer use [Eye Realm]. At midnight on November twenty-first, the [Death as Scheduled] Ghost Story began for five players, plunging them into darkness and strange noises.

• Jiang Du told Shen Hai that he could help bring Ling back and asked him to follow his instructions when necessary.
• Qin Manjiang woke after a day unconscious, and Yu Ruoli stayed with him before agreeing to get food together.
• Qin Manjiang repeatedly tried and failed to use [Eye Realm] over the following days.
• Liu Jingqing, Xia Nan, Su Yu, Yue Qiuchi, and Cao Xiangrong prepared separately for the [Death as Scheduled] Ghost Story, believing that gathering together could put them all at risk.
• At ten seconds before midnight, all light vanished around the five players, including the moon above Su Yu.
• When midnight arrived, Xia Nan heard strange noises in his dark home and sensed that something had entered.

Xia Nan, Liu Jingqing, Yue Qiuchi, Cao Xiangrong, and Su Yu saw the words “Fate Is Already Decided,” but none could learn what fate had been assigned to them. Yue Qiuchi then suffered terrifying visions during a mahjong game and attacked her friend, fleeing after the corpse told her, “You should die.”

• Xia Nan, Liu Jingqing, Yue Qiuchi, Cao Xiangrong, and Su Yu saw blood-red words declaring that fate was already decided, then found themselves back in their separate spaces at midnight.
• Yue Qiuchi tried to leave her mahjong game to meet Su Yu and Cao Xiangrong, but her friends confronted her for neglecting them.
• Yue Qiuchi saw a friend’s face change into her own and heard the woman tell her that she should die.
• Yue Qiuchi mistook her friends for terrifying doubles, stabbed one woman repeatedly with broken glass, and watched the other two flee.
• The corpse opened its blood-red eyes, repeated that Yue Qiuchi should die, and sent her scrambling out of the room.

Yue Qiuchi fled toward the outskirts of Fu City, terrified that a ghost was pursuing her and overwhelmed by guilt over killing her friend. An unknown caller who sounded like her warned her to stop the car, leaving her unsure whether the call came from the ghost or herself; after getting out at a service area, she accepted a meal from an employee.

• Yue Qiuchi booked a ride out of the city, afraid that police and other people would let the ghost get close to her.
• As repeated unknown calls came in, Yue Qiuchi recalled the blood on her hands and broke down over killing her close friend.
• Yue Qiuchi answered a call and heard a young woman's voice tell her not to leave the city and to get out of the car.
• Yue Qiuchi recognized that the voice sounded like her own and ordered the driver to stop near the Service Station.
• The driver gave Yue Qiuchi an eerie warning before driving away, and she wondered whether the caller had been the ghost or herself.
• A service-area employee offered Yue Qiuchi a cheap meal, and she accepted.

Cao Xiangrong hid in a crowded nightclub, hoping the people there would restrain the Vengeful Ghost pursuing him. The crowd turned into an uncanny threat, and Cao Xiangrong was killed by a mass of figures wearing his own face.

• Cao Xiangrong decided to stay awake in the nightclub, believing the crowd would limit the Vengeful Ghost's power.
• The dancers began moving stiffly in unison, trapping Cao Xiangrong as the nightclub fell silent.
• Cao Xiangrong answered a phone call and heard his own voice pleading for help before ending in a scream.
• The dancers turned toward Cao Xiangrong with his face and told him it was time to die.
• The figures seized Cao Xiangrong, and he died beneath the crowd as blood flowed across the floor.

Su Yu entered the Ghost Story Game to find his missing parents and suspected that other players were hiding their strength for reasons of their own. After noticing the moon vanish from his view, he went to find Cao Xiangrong for information about his parents and reached a deserted nightclub street, where he prepared to use his frightening permanent item.

• Su Yu recalled that he had entered the game voluntarily to search for his parents and had concealed his Spirit Pupil Points until he could redeem a permanent item.
• Su Yu noticed the moon disappear from his view and concluded that players might see a different world from ordinary people.
• Su Yu remembered Cao Xiangrong’s offer to share information about his parents if Su Yu protected him during the game.
• Su Yu went to the nightclub Cao Xiangrong had mentioned, but found the street empty and felt an unsettling, sticky breeze.
• Su Yu removed the Band-Aid 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 he discovered Cao Xiangrong dead among a crowd of sinister figures. He seized Cao Xiangrong's ringing phone and fled as the crowd turned on him, declaring that it was time for him to die.

• Su Yu activated [Pleasure and Pain], enduring amplified sensations as he entered the Nightclub to investigate the smell of blood.
• Su Yu sensed intense malice from the dancers and spotted Cao Xiangrong's bloodless corpse at the center of the dance floor.
• Su Yu noticed Cao Xiangrong's Phone ringing with a call from an unknown caller and realized the dancers had stopped moving.
• Su Yu rushed onto the dance floor, grabbed Cao Xiangrong's Phone, and narrowly avoided a stiff arm swinging at him.
• Su Yu ran as everyone on the dance floor fixed their gaze on him and spoke in unison: "It was time for you to die..."

Su Yu fled the nightclub after discovering that Cao Xiangrong had died, and he suspected the number of people present when the ghost story began determined the order of deaths. Meanwhile, Liu Jingqing and Xia Nan compared notes about the blackout before the game, but their call ended when a voice outside Liu Jingqing’s home began calling her name.

• Su Yu fled the nightclub with Cao Xiangrong's Phone and reasoned that the number of people present when the ghost story arrived might determine who died first.
• Su Yu questioned why the moon had gone dark for about ten seconds and wondered whether something had happened during that interval.
• Liu Jingqing called Xia Nan, and they agreed not to meet at night because nothing unusual had happened while they were alone.
• Xia Nan asked Liu Jingqing whether her lights had gone out before the game began, and they discussed contacting the other players to learn what had happened to them.
• Liu Jingqing heard her name called during the phone call, and Xia Nan realized she might have encountered something supernatural.
• A voice outside Liu Jingqing’s window called her name repeatedly, terrifying her.

Liu Jingqing faced a ghostly presence that called her name in her own voice, and Xia Nan urged her to escape by climbing out her window. She became trapped on the rope outside her third-floor apartment as the presence entered her bedroom.

• Liu Jingqing heard her own voice calling from outside her window and asked Xia Nan for help.
• Xia Nan advised her not to respond and to compare her home with his, but urgent knocking began at her front door.
• Xia Nan told Liu Jingqing to escape through her third-floor window, and she found a climbing rope and tied it to her computer desk.
• As the presence battered and tore open her security door, Liu Jingqing lowered herself outside but accidentally locked the rope into a dead knot.
• Liu Jingqing saw the presence's shadow enter her bedroom while she hung helplessly outside the window.

Liu Jingqing unexpectedly cleared the ghost story while hanging outside her window, and Xia Nan concluded that the curse’s companion entity had triggered her escape. The ghost story continued, leaving Xia Nan to contact the other players and investigate how to end it.

• As the shadow approached, Liu Jingqing heard her own voice say she should be dead, then heard that she had cleared the game.
• Xia Nan checked on Liu Jingqing by phone, and she described how the ghost had chased her into the room before she suddenly cleared the game.
• Xia Nan warned Liu Jingqing to avoid further calls and asked her to leave the scene so he could investigate without putting her at risk.
• Liu Jingqing discovered that her security door was intact, leading Xia Nan to infer that the curse’s companion entity could only affect what players saw.
• Liu Jingqing sent Xia Nan the contact details for Su Yu and Yue Qiuchi, and he called Su Yu to check on them.

After Liu Jingqing cleared the trial, Yue Qiuchi tried to leave the Service Area and meet Xia Nan, but police arrested her for murder. A crash left her unharmed beside an apparent Xia Nan, while the real Xia Nan was still speaking to her on the phone.

• Yue Qiuchi heard that Liu Jingqing had cleared the trial and called her, but Liu Jingqing’s line was busy.
• Xia Nan called Yue Qiuchi, said Liu Jingqing had given him her number, and asked her to come meet him.
• Yue Qiuchi asked Xia Nan to pick her up, but police arrived at the Service Area and arrested her on suspicion of murder.
• A vehicle crashed into the police car, knocking both officers unconscious while leaving Yue Qiuchi unharmed.
• A figure claiming to be Xia Nan opened the car door as the real Xia Nan spoke through Yue Qiuchi’s phone, and Yue Qiuchi told the figure she was talking to Su Yu.

Yue Qiuchi realized that a Vengeful Ghost disguised as Xia Nan was driving her, while the real Xia Nan quietly coached her by phone. Su Yu and Xia Nan compared their theories about the curse and ended on the possibility that everyone had died during the ten seconds of darkness when the ghost story began.

• Yue Qiuchi recognized the caller and driver as a ghost impersonating Xia Nan, but stayed still because she could not work out why it had not attacked her.
• The real Xia Nan asked Yue Qiuchi to answer with a code word, and she confirmed that the ghost had found her.
• Su Yu heard that Liu Jingqing had cleared the game and accepted Xia Nan's invitation to investigate what happened at her home.
• Su Yu told Xia Nan that Cao Xiangrong was dead and proposed that the number of people nearby might determine the order of death.
• Xia Nan explained his theory that darkness caused the curse, and he and Su Yu considered whether they had already died when the ghost story arrived.

Xia Nan deduced that the curse used light and nearby people to make its victims appear dead, and helped Yue Qiuchi escape an illusion. Before he could confirm his survival theory, the curse surrounded him, but a mysterious young man offered to share his body, and Xia Nan accepted.

• Xia Nan questioned Yue Qiuchi and realized the curse had made her imagine killing her friend and being taken away in a car.
• Xia Nan told Yue Qiuchi to jump out of the car, waking her at the service area and confirming she had not killed anyone.
• Xia Nan concluded that the curse needed light and people to make others recognize its victims as dead, then ended his call with Yue Qiuchi.
• Eight drunken university students saw Xia Nan under a streetlight, transformed into copies of him, and surrounded him as the curse attacked.
• A mysterious figure asked to share Xia Nan's body, and Xia Nan agreed before losing consciousness with the name Li Xijiu in his mind.

Xia Nan and Su Yu investigated Liu Jingqing’s apartment to reconstruct how the curse had appeared to her, while Xia Nan struggled with the soul of Li Xijiu now occupying part of him. They realized the shadow at the window was the crucial clue, but the chapter ended as something seemed about to appear.

• Liu Jingqing told Qin Manjiang she had cleared the game, and he invited her to the Clear Pupil Bar.
• Su Yu chose not to consult Doctor and traveled to New Fate Community, where he met Xia Nan.
• Xia Nan revealed that part of his soul had vanished and been replaced by Li Xijiu’s soul, then he and Su Yu went to Liu Jingqing’s apartment.
• Xia Nan and Su Yu reconstructed how Liu Jingqing had escaped through her bedroom window as the ghost entered the apartment.
• Xia Nan and Su Yu noticed that the ghost had seen Liu Jingqing’s shadow on the wall, and they realized it was the crucial step in the curse.

Su Yu and Xia Nan deduced how to survive the ghost story and went to North City Amusement Park’s Mirror Maze, while Yue Qiuchi attempted to use the same method but died before reaching them. At dawn, the remaining players cleared the game in the maze, and the author added a note about a family quarantine.

• Su Yu and Xia Nan concluded that the curse could be defeated by making it attack a reflection or other fake version of a player, and they headed to North City Amusement Park’s Mirror Maze.
• Su Yu messaged Yue Qiuchi the survival method, but she mistook his advice for a reason to travel across the city to join them.
• A Red Car appeared beside Yue Qiuchi’s ride-hailing car, and its ghostly driver, who looked like Yue Qiuchi, frightened her into jumping out and dying on the road.
• Su Yu and Xia Nan waited in the Mirror Maze as Yue Qiuchi’s twisted figure arrived, confirming that she had died and leaving them as the final two players.
• The Mirror Maze filled with reflections that confused the Vengeful Ghost, and the players received a notice that they had cleared the game.
• The author said their uncle had tested positive for an illness and that their family, who had contact with him, might soon be quarantined.

Qin Manjiang reunited with the other Ghost Story players at Clear Pupil Bar, where they revealed that the Ghost Story Wedding Dress had begun affecting the real world on a large scale. The chapter left Qin and the group facing the new threat.

• Huai'an Residential Complex and its famous Old Locust Tree drew crowds after people began treating it as a place for lovers to make wishes.
• The players discussed how Liu Jingqing’s lucky clearance had helped them survive Death as Scheduled, bringing the number of lit Spirit Pupils to four.
• Xu Yi, Zhong Xueran, Chen Zhiyuan, Mei Sijun, Yan Xiao, Xia Nan, Qiao Ziruo, Liu Jingqing, Yu Ruoli, and Shen Hai arrived at Clear Pupil Bar to meet Qin Manjiang.
• Qiao Ziruo told Qin Manjiang she wanted to speak with him, while Xia Nan called him “Brother Qin” and left him momentarily unsettled.
• Chen Zhiyuan told Qin Manjiang 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 viral Acacia Tree, which they feared might be connected to a mutation of the [Wedding Dress] ghost story. Xia Nan then revealed that several superhuman killers were active in Fu City and showed the group a photograph of a man who looked like Qin Manjiang.

• Xu Yi explained that crowds were visiting the Acacia Tree in Huai'an Residential Complex, and the group suspected it was linked to [Wedding Dress].
• Liu Jingqing, Qiao Ziruo, and Yan Xiao agreed to visit the tree, and Chen Zhiyuan arranged for everyone to meet there the next day.
• Xia Nan reported that several unusual killers had been linked to murders and disappearances in Fu City, and that they were looking for someone.
• Xia Nan showed the group a photograph of a bespectacled man in a white coat who strongly resembled Qin Manjiang.

Xia Nan reunited with Qin Manjiang and asked him and the others to help lure out the people killing and eating victims in Fu City. The group agreed to investigate, while Xia Nan privately revealed that he would eventually give control of his life back; Qin Manjiang was left at the Clear Pupil Bar with a tearful Qiao Ziruo.

• Xia Nan told Qin Manjiang and the others that Officer Zhou wanted them to use Qin Manjiang as bait to draw out the killers, and Qin Manjiang asked whether they had been released by him.
• Xia Nan nodded, and Qin Manjiang welcomed him back before punching him in the chest and announcing that they would visit the South City Old Locust Tree the next day.
• Xia Nan revealed that the killers might be players from other cities with spirit pupils, prompting Shen Hai, Xu Yi, Yan Xiao, Zhong Xueran, and Mei Sijun to volunteer to help.
• Xia Nan limited the group and left the Clear Pupil Bar, privately promising to return control of his life to Xia Nan after this stretch of time.
• At the Clear Pupil Bar, Lin Ci watched as Qiao Ziruo gripped Qin Manjiang's wrist and cried, and Qin Manjiang asked why she was crying.

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 family was relocating the grave. At the grave, Zhao Fengchuan and Lin’s attempt to create a Ghost Story went awry as it absorbed more Spirit Pupils, and someone arrived to stop the digging.

• Qiao Ziruo told Qin Manjiang that she had dreamed of her grandmother and learned that her father was moving the grave.
• Qin Manjiang agreed to accompany Qiao Ziruo to Qiao Family Village, and Mei Sijun drove them there.
• Zhao Fengchuan questioned Qiao Liang about his daughter, then ordered him out of the car.
• Zhao Fengchuan and Lin watched as an old Taoist began the grave relocation rites, and Lin reported that their experiment was still absorbing Spirit Pupils.
• The digging men reached the coffin amid unnatural winds, and a voice from behind the crowd shouted for them to stop.

Qin Manjiang and his companions arrived as Qiao Ziruo’s grandmother’s grave was uncovered, revealing a body with unnaturally intact eyes. Mei Sijun explained the danger and the history of ghost stories, then pointed out that Zhong Xueran’s family might be connected to Taoist knowledge, leaving Qin Manjiang with questions to ask her.

• Qin Manjiang, Qiao Ziruo, and Mei Sijun reached the grave as Zhao Fengchuan and Lin slipped away.
• Qiao Ziruo tried to rush to her grandmother’s remains, but the Old Taoist restrained her and warned that the coffin was dangerous.
• The crowd discovered that Old Lady Qiao’s eyeballs had not rotted, and people panicked at the thought of a haunting.
• The Old Taoist explained that the poplar wood coffin had allowed sinister influences to taint the body, while Mei Sijun warned that the dead might seek out their descendants.
• Mei Sijun told Qin Manjiang that Taoists learned how to handle ghost stories from old records and suggested Zhong Xueran’s family had such knowledge.
• Mei Sijun noted that Zhong Xueran possessed a [Three Pure Ones Bell] and advised Qin Manjiang to ask her about it.

After Qiao Ziruo’s grandmother’s grave was disturbed, Old Taoist gathered her bones and explained that her lost soul might return that night, though it could come back as a Vicious Soul. Qiao Ziruo followed him to her former home, while Qin Manjiang resolved to resist the Eye Realm’s control over the Ghost Story.

• Qin Manjiang stopped Old Taoist from leaving and demanded to know how they could deal with the disturbed grave.
• Old Taoist realized Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and Qiao Ziruo were natural-born Spirit Pupil Bearers and mentioned the Eye Realm.
• Old Taoist told Qiao Ziruo that her grandmother’s soul had been lost with the Soul-Summoning Banner, then gathered the bones in red silk and instructed her to add soil from beneath the coffin.
• Qiao Ziruo asked what would happen if her grandmother’s soul did not return, and Old Taoist warned that a Vicious Soul might come back instead.
• Old Taoist wrapped the remains and led Qiao Ziruo, Qin Manjiang, and Mei Sijun down the mountain to her former home.
• Qin Manjiang suspected the Eye Realm was tracking the Ghost Story’s progress and decided to resist it.