Recaps

Qin Manjiang tried to stop Yi Lianhai’s Ascension Ritual when he learned it would erase the Guanyin Incarnation, but the ritual pushed her to the brink as a giant black hand descended. Jiang Du helped Qin Manjiang preserve the last fragment of her, and the resulting ascended being stopped the hand before killing Yi Lianhai.

• Qin Manjiang demanded that Yi Lianhai release him and stop the Ascension Ritual, but Yi Lianhai activated the equipment and forced the ritual to continue.
• A giant black palm descended toward them as the Guanyin Incarnation cracked apart, and Qin Manjiang tried to break out of the equipment while holding her.
• The Guanyin Incarnation spoke of the past, present, and future before most of her body crumbled, so Qin Manjiang called out to Jiang Du.
• Jiang Du emerged from a coffin in the Eye Realm and gave Qin Manjiang grayish-white mist, which Qin Manjiang used to protect the remaining piece of her head and left eye.
• The equipment shattered, revealing a faintly glowing, transparent humanoid with spiral pupils that halted the black palm.
• Yi Lianhai celebrated the successful Ascension Ritual, but the humanoid turned toward him and caused him to explode into bloody mist.

Qin Manjiang used the Guanyin Incarnation’s remaining power to free Jiang Du and preserve a fragment of her, then attacked the White Pupil God with the Red Pupil. As the threat vanished, he spent his remaining power to save the reservoir workers and imprison the Living Corpses beneath the Guanyin Statue.

• Qin Manjiang opened the Eye Realm across time and space, released Jiang Du from the Ten Spirit Coffins, and preserved a fragment of the Guanyin Incarnation.
• Jiang Du returned to his own timeline, found Yi Lianhai and a girl’s faint figure inside the Eye Realm phone, and left to begin saving them.
• Qin Manjiang charged into the White Pupil God’s darkness and drove the Red Pupil eyeball into its core, making the monster vanish.
• Qin Manjiang used his fading power to carry the humans near the reservoir to safety as the dam burst and the flood swept through Guanyin Village.
• Qin Manjiang sent his last light to the Guanyin Statue, which imprisoned the Living Corpses beneath it forever.

Shen Hai told Yan Xiao that Qin Manjiang had become the fog rising from Guanyin Flat Lake and was using it to hide the players from the Bai family. He revealed that the Bai family had turned the Eye Realm into a game and arranged the next two games, then asked Yan Xiao to help bring the real Eye Realm game down upon them.

• Yan Xiao left home to meet the Fu City Eye Realm players and ran into Shen Hai in the fog.
• Shen Hai explained that Qin Manjiang had sent him to infiltrate the Bai Group while Qin entered his Personal Challenge.
• Shen Hai said he had found the Bai family's underground game operation and learned that the Eye Realm had no consciousness and the Bai family used it to watch players.
• Shen Hai revealed that the Bai family had arranged the ninth and Ultimate games, including the players' endings.
• Shen Hai told Yan Xiao that Qin Manjiang's fog was blocking the Bai family's surveillance and urged him to help bring the real Eye Realm game down upon them.

Yan Xiao heard Shen Hai explain Qin Manjiang’s plan to free [Eye Realm] from the Bai family’s control and restart the Ghost Story Game, but he questioned the motives behind the factions involved. They concluded that the world was dead and its legacy had drawn powerful people seeking to become its new Creator.

• Yan Xiao asked to meet Qin Manjiang, and Shen Hai revealed that the fog was Qin and that Qin had sent him to deliver the truth about [Eye Realm].
• Shen Hai explained that Qin Manjiang wanted to free [Eye Realm] from the Bai family and force everyone connected to it into a real game.
• Yan Xiao pointed out that freeing [Eye Realm] would only return it to dormancy, and Shen Hai described how Qin’s godly power and fog could obstruct the Bai family’s surveillance.
• Shen Hai wondered whether Jiang Du had created Qin Manjiang to continue attempts to restart [Eye Realm], and Yan Xiao said the Bai family’s and Yi Lianhai’s apparent goals were only means or facades.
• Yan Xiao and Shen Hai concluded that the world and its timeline had stopped, and that the people involved sought to inherit the dead Creator’s legacy and become the new It.

Qin Manjiang returned to his own time by sinking to the bottom of the flooded Guanyin Village, where the Guanyin Statue’s power reversed the passage between timelines. His eyes transformed into intertwined red-and-white pupils as he faced the Bai family’s eyes in the sky and raised fog across the lake.

• Jiang Du told Zuo Xian that Qin Manjiang’s red-and-white pupils would restart the Eye Realm and that their appearance reflected the world’s dead time.
• Qin Manjiang sank through the flood as the Guanyin Statue protected him and pulled him toward the lakebed.
• Qin Manjiang touched the ground of Guanyin Village and burst through the surface twenty years later, returning to his own time.
• Qin Manjiang saw his pupils split into intertwined red and white spirals and recognized the Bai family’s eyes overhead.
• Qin Manjiang used the last faint glow of the Guanyin Statue’s power as thick fog rose across the lake.

Qin Manjiang used the Guanyin Statue’s remaining divine power to conceal himself in fog and began working to undermine the Bai family’s control of the Eye Realm. After Shen Hai found him, Qin Manjiang revealed his plan to liberate the true Eye Realm, unite Fu City and Moon City, and bring about the true Ghost Story Game.

• Qin Manjiang realized the Eye Realm overlapped the human world and decided to spread fog to obscure the Bai family’s advantage and alert other Eye Realm Players.
• Qin Manjiang hid in fog over Guanyin Flat Lake while the Bai family searched unsuccessfully, then Shen Hai arrived to find him.
• Qin Manjiang spoke to Shen Hai through the fog and used divine power to heal Shen Hai’s injured leg.
• Qin Manjiang asked Shen Hai to notify Yan Xiao and Nie Yunzhen, but Shen Hai questioned whether Nie Yunzhen could be trusted.
• Qin Manjiang declared that he planned to liberate the true Eye Realm, unite the Eye Realms of Fu City and Moon City, and bring about the true Ghost Story Game, and Shen Hai agreed to help.

Yan Xiao explained that Qin Manjiang had been prepared as a vessel to carry the Red and White Pupils back to the future and restart the Eye Realm. After Qin Manjiang’s voice vanished from the Guanyin Shard, Yan Xiao and Shen Hai agreed to begin, though Shen Hai admitted he was doing it for one person.

• Shen Hai used a Guanyin Porcelain Shard to let Qin Manjiang hear Yan Xiao’s theory about why the Eye Realm had not been restarted twenty years earlier.
• Yan Xiao theorized that Jiang Du had paused time and guided Qin Manjiang to retrieve the Red and White Pupils because people in the past could not withstand [Its] presence.
• Yan Xiao connected Chen Zhiyuan’s words, “interrupt our time, hold back the present... rescue the future,” to the efforts of Jiang Du and others to save the future.
• Yan Xiao concluded that Qin Manjiang had been deliberately created as a vessel capable of holding [Its] power and offered to help restart the Eye Realm.
• Shen Hai wondered whether those who died in the Eye Realm game could return, but Qin Manjiang’s voice disappeared before he could answer.
• Yan Xiao urged Shen Hai to begin for everyone, and Shen Hai said he was doing it for one person.

Lian Yan remembered his former life as Guan She, when Lie’s betrayal in the final Ghost Story led him to use the Burning Candle and return to the past. Qin Manjiang’s unexpected actions had changed history and restored Lian Yan’s memories, giving him hope that the fixed cycle could be broken; now, with ten people left in the Hunting Game, he prepared to advance to the next stage.

• Lian Yan recalled the final Ghost Story, where Lie deceived the Ten Seats and left them to die in a fire.
• Guan She used his permanent item, the Burning Candle, to wish that Moon City’s Eye Realm could start over, and he returned to its early days.
• After Qin Manjiang appeared and helped him find a way out of Ping'an Hospital, Lian Yan’s memories returned and he realized history had changed.
• Xinxin told Lian Yan that exactly ten people remained and that Qin Manyi was hunting A Shui.
• Lian Yan decided it was time to begin the next stage and told Xinxin to go home.

Lian Yan told Xinxin that the real Ghost Story Game was about to begin and urged her to return to Fu City. At Funiu Mountain, the Old Taoist released Qiao Ziruo from his Jade-Gathering Gourd and sent her to Fu City, explaining that Qin Manjiang’s arrival had created new variables.

• Lian Yan told Xinxin that he and the others were going to Fu City and that she should prepare to rejoin the real Ghost Story Game.
• The Old Taoist released Qiao Ziruo from the Jade-Gathering Gourd at his temple on Funiu Mountain.
• Qiao Ziruo recognized the gourd as the source of the Eye Realm’s Congealed Jade Gourd and questioned the Old Taoist about his identity.
• The Old Taoist told Qiao Ziruo that she, Xia Nan, and Qin Manjiang were connected to changes in the world’s course and urged her to return to Fu City.
• The Old Taoist asked Qiao Ziruo to tell the young lady of the Zhong Family not to cling too tightly to worldly affairs.

Zhong Xueran returned to Fu City after Shen Hai told her Xu Yi might be revived, and learned that they planned to restart the Eye Realm. Mei Sijun then appeared on a broadcast to reveal the Eye Realm and offer ordinary people a way to enter it, leaving Shen Hai and the others shocked by his dangerous announcement.

• Zhong Xueran returned from Moon City and met Yan Xiao and Shen Hai at the private club.
• Yan Xiao told Zhong Xueran that they planned to restart the Eye Realm, possibly bringing people back.
• Mei Sijun appeared on televisions across Fu City and Moon City and identified himself as a strange tales player.
• Mei Sijun explained the Eye Realm, the White Pupil God and Red Pupil God, and the potential of spirit pupils.
• Mei Sijun revealed an Eye Key that could let ordinary people enter the Eye Realm and told them to watch their mirrors that night.
• Shen Hai called Mei Sijun a lunatic after the broadcast ended.

Mei Sijun’s broadcast exposed the Eye Realm and the Ghost Story Game, while Yi Lianhai used mirrors to unleash Spirit Pupil power across Moon City and Fu City. As panic and supernatural phenomena spread, Yi Lianhai realized that revealing the Eye Realm had allowed Ghost Stories and Vengeful Ghosts to invade reality.

• Yi Lianhai explained to Mei Sijun that the Bai family had enforced secrecy about the Eye Realm and urged him to expose it.
• Mei Sijun’s message was broadcast across Moon City and Fu City, triggering panic and overwhelming law enforcement with calls.
• Yi Lianhai allowed the Bai Group to trace the hack as he watched the public reaction with Mei Sijun.
• People across the cities saw a pupil-filled world in mirrors and windows, then reported bloody hands, heads, footprints, and faucets running with blood.
• At the Paleontology Research Association, Yi Lianhai realized that the Bai family’s secrecy had kept Ghost Stories and Vengeful Ghosts from invading reality.

Bai Hongdan confronted Bai Yang about the chaos caused by the Ghost Story World’s invasion, and he revealed that he had arranged to cooperate with Yi Lianhai. Yi Lianhai planned to use Spirit Pupils to make Anti-Eye Keys that could send Vengeful Ghosts back to the Eye Realm, but he informed Bai Hongdan that the agreement was already settled without her consent.

• Bai Hongdan urged Bai Yang to intervene as the Eye Realm’s secrets became public and panic spread, but he said the situation was beyond his control and suggested asking Qin Manjiang for help.
• Bai Yang gave Bai Hongdan an Eye Key made by Yi Lianhai and explained that Yi had deliberately left a trace so they could talk.
• Yi Lianhai appeared on the screen and proposed making Anti-Eye Keys with Spirit Pupils to return Vengeful Ghosts to the Eye Realm, asking the Bai family to supply materials and people to use them.
• Bai Hongdan agreed to the plan, but Yi Lianhai revealed that he and Bai Yang had already settled the details and that he was only notifying her.
• After Yi Lianhai ended the call, Bai Hongdan told Bai Yang that she hated him.

Yi Lianhai admitted he had created the Eye Key but said making an Anti-Eye Key would be nearly impossible, while the Eye Realm began merging with reality and threatened Fu City. Qin Manjiang prepared to return to Lower River Village, but Bai Yang unexpectedly appeared at Guanyin Flat Lake.

• Yi Lianhai told Mei Sijun he had created the Eye Key and ordered him to take the waking Yi Yu back to Fu City, where Guanyin Flat Lake and Lower River Village could become enormous exits from the Eye Realm.
• Zhong Xueran, Shen Hai, and Yan Xiao told Qin Manjiang that Mei Sijun had revealed the Eye Realm on television, causing it to invade reality as fear spread.
• Qin Manjiang explained that unified fear was expanding the Eye Realm and said the Guanyin Statue could hold the exit beneath Guanyin Flat Lake shut.
• Qin Manjiang decided to return to his hometown, Lower River Village, to prevent a large-scale Ghost Story from emerging there.
• Bai Yang arrived by car and greeted Qin Manjiang, Shen Hai, Zhong Xueran, and Yan Xiao, shocking them because they had seen his corpse and believed he was dead.

Bai Yang met Qin Manjiang and the others at Guanyin Flat Lake, revealing that he had faked his death to escape an unfathomable entity. He asked them to go with him to Lower River Village and travel ten years into the future to complete the task his future self died attempting.

• Bai Yang approached Qin Manjiang, Zhong Xueran, Yan Xiao, and Shen Hai, and explained that the corpse burned in the fire had been his future self from ten years later.
• Bai Yang said the Guanyin beneath the lake had released the living corpses when he previously tried to travel back in time, and that Chen Zhiyuan had saved him.
• Shen Hai demanded to know why Bai Yang had faked his death, and Bai Yang admitted that an unfathomable entity had targeted him.
• Qin Manjiang deduced that Bai Yang's permanent exit challenge had taken place in Lower River Village and sent him ten years into the future.
• Bai Yang explained that Guanyin Flat Lake and Lower River Village were temporal weak points, then asked the group to return to Lower River Village with him and finish his future self's unfinished task.

Bai Yang told Qin Manjiang and the others that [Eye Realm] was colliding with reality and that Lower River Village could become a gateway for ghosts and curses, so they traveled there to stop it. During the drive, Yang spoke of recognizing Qin Manjiang from childhood, while Yan Xiao confronted him about the harm he had done to Chen Zhiyuan.

• Bai Yang warned Qin Manjiang and the others that Lower River Village could become a massive exit from [Eye Realm] unless they stopped it.
• Shen Hai accused Bai Yang's family of creating the Ghost Story Game, and Qin Manjiang suggested their collected Spirit Pupils could enable human ascension into a god.
• Qin Manjiang and the others accepted Bai Yang's offer to travel with them, and they drove through the night toward Lower River Village.
• Yang told Qin Manjiang he remembered meeting him twenty years earlier and described how seeing him enter Eye Realm brought back childhood memories.
• Yan Xiao told Yang that he had hurt Chen Zhiyuan, who had trusted him and lost himself, and said Yang owed him an apology if he could still return.

Qin Manjiang returned to Lower River Village and found it eerily empty as a storm gathered, then encountered a man who emerged from a fissure in the darkness and shared his name. The chapter left Qin Manjiang and his double facing each other in the gale.

• Qin Manjiang considered the ruined Upper River Village and recalled his sudden plan to seek out its descendants in Lower River Village.
• Qin Manjiang found Uncle Wang’s brightly lit house empty except for a shadowy figure who appeared to be Uncle Wang, while the German shepherd remained motionless.
• Qin Manjiang rode toward home as the village fell silent and a powerful wind blocked his way.
• Qin Manjiang watched a crack open in the darkness, and a man stepped out of it.
• Qin Manjiang and the stranger asked each other who they were, then both identified themselves as Qin Manjiang.

A sudden downpour separated Qin Manjiang from his companions and brought him face-to-face with a version of himself from ten years in the future. They discovered a body in the river at Lower River Village, while Bai Yang rushed there to investigate the reported death and learned that reporter Zhong Xueran was already on her way.

• The rain returned Lower River Village to normal as thirty-year-old Qin Manjiang encountered another Qin Manjiang who appeared to be from ten years earlier.
• The two Qin Manjiangs went to their riverside home and found something in the swollen river, prompting a woman to report a body to the police.
• In Central District, Bai Yang spotted a mysterious figure across the rain-soaked street, but it disappeared before he could identify it.
• Xia Nan picked Bai Yang up and told him that a body had been reported in the river at Lower River Village.
• Bai Yang ordered Xia Nan to drive directly to the scene after learning that reporter Zhong Xueran was also heading there.

Zhong Xueran investigated a death in Lower River Village after seeing a younger double appear in her apartment, while firefighters reported a similar sighting of Yan Xiao. At the river, the thirty-year-old Qin Manjiang saw a corpse villagers identified as himself, and Qin Manjiang told him he was already dead.

• During a storm, Zhong Xueran saw a younger version of herself in her window and sensed a forgotten person behind a barrier in her memories.
• After receiving word that a body had been found in Lower River Village, Zhong Xueran left for the village, and her younger double briefly appeared in her apartment before vanishing.
• Yan Xiao responded to the village’s rescue call, while firefighters said they had seen a younger, fairer version of him near the restroom.
• At the river, villagers identified the floating corpse as Little Qin, and the thirty-year-old Qin Manjiang wondered how that could be when he was standing there.
• Qin Manjiang told the thirty-year-old Qin Manjiang that he was already dead and that villagers had been greeting him instead.

Qin Manjiang tried to explain his presence after villagers found his dead older self, but Shen Hai arrived claiming to be a detective, and Qin Manjiang realized several people from his own time had different future careers. The chapter ended with emergency responders arriving and Qin Manjiang bewildered by how much the future had changed.

• Qin Manjiang saw his dead older self and convinced the villagers that he was Jiang Du, the younger adopted brother who had come to find Qin Manjiang.
• Shen Hai arrived in a trench coat and introduced himself to the villagers as a detective.
• Qin Manjiang's ghostly older self vanished, and sirens brought police, firefighters, and medical personnel to the village.
• Shen Hai questioned Qin Manjiang when he tried to leave, and Qin Manjiang spotted Yan Xiao, Bai Yang, Xia Nan, and Zhong Xueran among the responders.
• Qin Manjiang realized that the people he knew had taken unexpected roles in this future and wondered what had happened to the world.

After a faceless corpse was recovered from the river in Lower River Village, Qin Manjiang realized that the body and clothes he wore belonged to someone else in this timeline. The doctor identified him as a village resident and hospital physician, leaving Qin Manjiang’s identity and connection to the corpse uncertain.

• Xia Nan directed villagers to the ancestral hall to give statements while Yan Xiao organized the recovery of the body.
• Zhong Xueran photographed the scene, and Bai Yang allowed her to document evidence as Shen Hai introduced himself as a police consultant.
• Shen Hai and Bai Yang noticed Qin Manjiang trying to leave, so Bai Yang told him to stay and questioned him.
• Yan Xiao turned over the recovered corpse, revealing that it had a perfectly smooth, featureless face.
• Qin Manjiang noticed unfamiliar calluses, leather shoes, and clothes on himself, then nearly collapsed as Yan Xiao steadied him.
• The ambulance doctor identified Qin Manjiang as a Lower River Village resident and a doctor at the town’s Central Hospital.

Qin Manjiang realized that he had become the thirty-year-old version of himself after the original Qin Manjiang died, and he questioned whether the people around him had also been replaced. He recognized the ambulance doctor as Xi Wutong, who acknowledged him as an old friend.

• Qin Manjiang confirmed his identity as the thirty-year-old Qin Manjiang while Bai Yang examined the faceless corpse.
• Bai Yang took Zhong Xueran's camera and restricted which photographs she could publish.
• Qin Manjiang spotted a doctor in the departing ambulance and ran after it despite Yan Xiao and Bai Yang pursuing him.
• Qin Manjiang called the doctor Xi Wutong, and she asked Bai Yang to release him, saying he was an old friend.

Bai Yang suspected Qin Manjiang and Xi Wutong and arranged to have them watched, while Xi Wutong revealed that she was Zuo Xian and explained their shared origins as deliberately created beings. The chapter ended with Xi Wutong asking Qin Manjiang to stay with her in the future timeline and embracing him.

• Bai Yang left Qin Manjiang and Xi Wutong alone and told Yan Xiao to have them watched.
• Xi Wutong took Qin Manjiang from Lower River Village to Fu City, explaining that the future timeline had no boundary because it was reality rather than a Ghost Story Game.
• Xi Wutong revealed that she had entered Lower River Village to find a way into the future and had briefly become [It], giving her knowledge of what would happen.
• Qin Manjiang recognized Xi Wutong as Zuo Xian, and she confirmed that she preferred the name Xi Wutong.
• Xi Wutong explained that she and Qin Manjiang were deliberately created [flowers] with self-awareness, and urged him to stay with her before embracing him.

Xi Wutong told Qin Manjiang that they were new humans who could not care as ordinary humans did, and he followed her into the darkness. Meanwhile, Bai Yang connected the mysterious faceless corpse to Qin Manjiang and rushed out to pursue him.

• Xi Wutong described Qin Manjiang’s emotional detachment and suggested that they were new humans created by Jiang Du and Zuo Xian.
• A shattered Guanyin head appeared beside Qin Manjiang, interrupting Xi Wutong before she could kiss him.
• Xi Wutong invited Qin Manjiang to her home, and he followed her into the darkness as the rain eased.
• Bai Yang learned that the faceless corpse was human but had no identifiable cause of death, and Xia Nan reported that forensic staff suspected it had been erased from existence.
• Bai Yang recalled that Qin Manjiang’s build matched the corpse’s and left the Police Station to pursue him.

Qin Manjiang suspected Xi Wutong was manipulating him to make him stay, and he considered how his connection to Jiang Du differed from hers to Zuo Xian. Their quiet evening was interrupted when a news report showed a woman Qin Manjiang recognized, and Xi Wutong revealed that several Faceless Corpse cases had already been handled beyond the police.

• Qin Manjiang recalled Jiang Du’s claim that he had grown from a doll and concluded that his own origin differed from Xi Wutong’s assumptions about him.
• Qin Manjiang suspected Xi Wutong had bewitched him and was trying to persuade him to stay, so he acted dazed to observe her.
• Xi Wutong shared cake with Qin Manjiang and watched a news report with him in silence.
• Qin Manjiang recognized the blurred woman shown being arrested for spreading rumors that time and the world were fake.
• Xi Wutong told Qin Manjiang that several Faceless Corpses had been discovered and that their examination reports went further up than the police.

Shen Hai investigated [Truth]’s claims about Faceless Corpses and wondered whether Qin Manjiang was a truth-bringer. After sensing an unseen presence in his home, Shen Hai watched his own facial features disappear in the mirror, leaving him alive as a Faceless Person.

• Shen Hai woke before dawn and read a forum post reporting [Truth]’s arrest alongside his predictions about another Faceless Corpse in Lower River Village.
• Shen Hai considered how the Faceless Corpses were handled and wondered whether Qin Manjiang was one of the truth-bringers.
• Shen Hai sensed someone watching him inside his home, searched the living room and ceiling vent, and found nobody.
• Shen Hai rushed to the bathroom and saw his reflection’s mouth, nose, and eyes disappear.
• Shen Hai lost his facial features and senses but remained alive.