Recaps

Mei Sijun explained how Li Yunxiu’s divided soul and repeated reincarnations trapped Yellow Springs Opera in an endless cycle, while Qin Manjiang realized his own body might be a vessel and his soul the water inside it. The chapter ended with Mei Sijun asking whether Qin Manjiang would still be himself if he discovered he was Professor Jiang.

• Mei Sijun recognized Qin Manjiang as someone he had met in a past incarnation and recalled that he had once partnered with Professor Jiang in the Ghost Story Game.
• Mei Sijun compared bodies to vessels and souls to water, suggesting Qin Manjiang’s body had fixed limits and that he might be a soul fitted into it.
• Mei Sijun explained that Li Yunxiu’s Jade Cicada altered her soul, allowing her and his reincarnating half to persist beyond death.
• Mei Sijun revealed that Li Yunxiu’s death left the original Yellow Springs Opera unresolved, turning later attempts to clear it into an endless cycle and Ultimate Game.
• Mei Sijun asked Qin Manjiang what he would do if he discovered he was Professor Jiang, and whether he would still be himself.

Yang, Shen Hai, and Yan Xiao broke free of [Yellow Springs Opera], and Qin Manjiang laid out a plan to escape. After Qin Manjiang helped Mei Sijun accept his own identity, Mei Sijun began a rival performance against Li Yunxiu.

• Yang broke free of [Yellow Springs Opera] and urged Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun to focus on surviving.
• Qin Manjiang proposed stopping the rising river, ending Li Yunxiu's soul, and summoning the five-headed Vengeful Ghost to seal it.
• Shen Hai and Yan Xiao revealed that they had also escaped the opera's control, and Shen Hai suggested staging a rival performance to silence the ghost.
• Qin Manjiang told Mei Sijun that his doubts proved he was his own person, and Mei Sijun resolved to live and sing for himself.
• Mei Sijun sang the spell Yu Chenglin had used, starting the rival performance and bringing a warm breeze across the river.

Mei Sijun defeated Li Yunxiu in their rival performance, making the river recede and freeing the people from their memories. The Opera House then rose as the Five-Headed Vengeful Ghost, and Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin’s group began using the Golden Light Mantra to fight it and restore the Jade Cicadas.

• Mei Sijun’s unaccompanied [Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra] overpowered Li Yunxiu and the Ghost Opera Troupe, ending their contest and causing the river to recede.
• Xu Yi and the others regained their senses, but the Opera House shook, rose from the ground, and revealed the Five-Headed Vengeful Ghost fused with the [Southern Branch Troupe].
• The ghost split the earth beneath the fleeing group, and Yang pulled Yu Chenglin out of the fissure before urging everyone to keep running.
• Qin Manjiang said they had to put the Jade Cicadas back into the ghost’s mouths, while Yu Chenglin proposed using the [Golden Light Mantra] to hold it off.
• Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin led the group in reciting the mantra, and Mei Sijun cast its protection over Xinxin as a giant limb struck toward her.

Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin used the Golden Light Divine Incantation to protect Yang and Qin Manjiang, then collapsed or withdrew as the Vengeful Ghost attacked. Yang used his Reverse-Time Hourglass to save Qin Manjiang from a fatal blow, and the two advanced toward the monster’s five heads with their Jade Cicadas.

• Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin recited the Golden Light Divine Incantation, coating Yang and Qin Manjiang in protective golden light before Mei Sijun passed out.
• Yan Xiao carried Mei Sijun away while the others hid, and Qin Manjiang discovered that the golden light greatly enhanced his strength and speed.
• Yang and Qin Manjiang dodged the Vengeful Ghost’s enormous limbs and charged toward the monster fused with the Southern Branch Troupe.
• A house-sized fist struck Qin Manjiang and gravely injured him, but Yang reversed time by five seconds and caught him before the blow landed.
• Yang and Qin Manjiang, carrying five Jade Cicadas between them, leaped toward the Vengeful Ghost’s five heads.

Qin Manjiang and Yang struggled to reach the Five-Headed Vengeful Ghost while Yan Xiao and Xinxin fought off waves of paper figures at the riverbank. Yu Chenglin arrived with a plan to exploit the ghost’s fear of fire, but it required someone to set himself alight and charge upward.

• Paper figures crawled from the ground and attacked the group, so Yan Xiao and Xinxin fought them while Qin Manjiang and Yang battled the Vengeful Ghost.
• A storm broke, and the rain further weakened Qin Manjiang and Yang’s golden protection as they failed to get near the ghost’s heads.
• Qin Manjiang searched for Yu Chenglin, hoping he could help cast the Golden Light Mantra, but could not find him at the riverbank.
• Yu Chenglin reached Qin Manjiang and Yang and explained that the opera-script monster feared fire because it loved and controlled water.
• Yu Chenglin urged one of them to set himself on fire and charge into the sky to get past the Vengeful Ghost.

As torrential rain threatened to turn the paper-bodied people back into paper, Shen Hai learned the Golden Light Mantra from Mei Sijun and used it to revive him. Shen Hai ended the chapter proud that he had remembered the final line.

• Yu Chenglin urged Qin Manjiang and Yang to use fire against the ghost and offered them lamp oil, while Qin Manjiang followed Yang with suspicions about Yu Chenglin's motives.
• The rain flattened the paper figures and began turning Yan Xiao and the others back into paper, so Xinxin tried to shield Yan Xiao from the downpour.
• Xu Yi found a covered wooden boat and dragged Shen Hai and Mei Sijun beneath it, but the others were caught in the rain.
• Shen Hai asked Mei Sijun to teach him the Golden Light Mantra, and Mei Sijun recited it while his body cracked and his life faded.
• After Mei Sijun lost consciousness, Shen Hai recited the final line and channeled golden light into him, restoring his heartbeat and bringing him back to life.

Mei Sijun and Shen Hai used the Golden Light Mantra to keep their allies alive while Yan Xiao recovered and rescued the others. Yu Chenglin betrayed Qin Manjiang and Yang to seize the five Jade Cicadas, but Xu Yi, Mei Sijun, and Shen Hai arrived to stop him.

• Shen Hai explained that he had given Mei Sijun the Golden Light Mantra so Mei could sing it again, and Mei used it to renew their protection.
• Xinxin used Yan Xiao’s Scalpel on his paper-thin body, restoring him; Yan Xiao then saved her from a black limb and ran to help the others.
• Yu Chenglin set Yang alight with Lamp Oil, and Yang climbed the Vengeful Ghost with Qin Manjiang and Yu Chenglin following behind.
• At the Vengeful Ghost’s heads, Yu Chenglin transferred the flames to Qin Manjiang, took all five Jade Cicadas, and left Qin Manjiang and Yang falling toward the ground.
• Xu Yi appeared as Mei Sijun used the Golden Light Mantra on Yang, who caught Qin Manjiang and helped put out the flames.
• Shen Hai, Mei Sijun, and Xu Yi confronted Yu Chenglin and demanded that he hand over the Jade Cicadas.

Yang and Yan Xiao’s group reunited as Yu Chenglin used all five Jade Cicadas to transform himself into a conscious Vengeful Ghost, destroying the giant ghost and [Southern Branch Troupe]. Yu Chenglin spared the group and revealed that he had sought freedom and power because of his end-stage kidney failure.

• Yang brought the paper-thin Qin Manjiang to Yan Xiao, who used his scalpel to restore Qin Manjiang’s body.
• Yu Chenglin swallowed all five Jade Cicadas, set himself on fire, and leaped from the Vengeful Ghost to die.
• The Jade Cicadas transformed Yu Chenglin’s corpse, and he rose as a conscious Vengeful Ghost with terrifying powers.
• Yu Chenglin’s scarlet baleful energy split the giant Vengeful Ghost, and fire consumed it and [Southern Branch Troupe].
• Yu Chenglin approached the reunited group, spared them, and told Yan Xiao that he had sought power and freedom because of his end-stage kidney failure.

Mei Sijun’s chant exposed Yu Chenglin’s deception: the Jade Cicadas he had taken were fakes, and he dissolved as the mantra weakened him. After the group realized they were paper effigies that had to burn to return to the real world, they entered the flames and completed the Yellow Springs Opera ghost story.

• Qin Manjiang urged Mei Sijun to sing the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra, and Yu Chenglin began melting as Mei repeated it.
• Qin Manjiang revealed he had switched the Jade Cicada Yu Chenglin sought with a piece of jade that was not a Jade Cicada, and Yu Chenglin dissolved completely.
• When no completion notification appeared, Yang and Qin Manjiang realized that their bodies were paper effigies and that fire had not affected them because the ghost story was still ongoing.
• Nie Yunzhen explained that paper effigies had to be burned to be sent to another world, and Yang inferred that the group could return to reality once the story ended.
• Yang and the others walked into the flames and burned to ashes; Qin Manjiang discarded the real Jade Cicada before following them, and the Ghost Story Game announced the story’s completion.

After escaping the Yellow Springs Opera ghost story, Qin Manjiang and the other players returned to the real world, where they discussed the six days that had passed and made plans to rest. Mei Sijun affirmed that he would always recognize Qin Manjiang, but the words “Professor Jiang” suddenly appeared in Qin Manjiang’s mind and caused him intense pain.

• Qin Manjiang and the players returned to the riverbank, where they received their Spirit Pupil rewards and watched Yu Chenglin’s body dissolve into black particles.
• Yang explained that people who died in ghost stories vanished without a trace, and Qin Manjiang asked him to help find a job.
• Chen Zhiyuan noticed that six days had passed in the real world, and Xu Yi speculated that their bodies might be vessels like the paper figures.
• Yang sent the exhausted players home and promised to share details of the ghost story, while Shen Hai had already left.
• Mei Sijun told Qin Manjiang that he would always recognize him, then left before Qin Manjiang could reply.
• Qin Manjiang thought that no one, not even himself, could make him change, when “Professor Jiang” appeared in his mind and triggered a sharp pain.

Qin Manjiang resisted his body's attempt to erase the name Jiang Du, and Nie Yunzhen recognized him by it before fainting. Meanwhile, Bai Yang decided to enter the Permanent Logout Challenge despite Chen Zhiyuan's warnings, and Qin Manjiang began searching for Jiang Du the next morning.

• Xu Yi noticed that Qin Manjiang seemed as if he had been locked up again, while Qin Manjiang struggled to remember the name Professor Jiang.
• Nie Yunzhen heard Qin Manjiang repeat Jiang Du's name, recognized him as Jiang Du, and fainted.
• Chen Zhiyuan warned Bai Yang that the Permanent Logout Challenge might be a trap designed to take his Spirit Pupils, but Bai Yang said he was too tired to keep living as he had been.
• Bai Yang refused to make Chen Zhiyuan test the challenge through Nie Yunzhen first and said that surviving after losing everything would be pointless.
• The next morning, Qin Manjiang remembered Jiang Du and searched the name and the word professor on his computer.

The Ghost Story Game and Qin Manjiang’s Relic Phone stopped working after the system announced a month-long upgrade and ordered players to stay in Fu City. Qin Manjiang learned that Professor Jiang Du looked exactly like him, then accepted Yang’s offer to investigate an anomaly at Baihong Building.

• The Ghost Story Game announced a one-month upgrade, canceled all games, and warned players not to leave Fu City; Qin Manjiang found that his Relic Phone had also stopped working.
• Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen ate breakfast while he searched for Jiang Du, whose photograph looked exactly like him.
• Qin Manjiang considered visiting Moon City but remembered his promise to return to Lower River Village with Qin Manyi and Xi Wutong.
• Yang offered Qin Manjiang a security job investigating an anomaly for a hundred thousand, and explained how Spirit Pupils affected ghosts in the real world.
• Yang sent Qin Manjiang the address of Baihong Building in Fu City’s Central District.

On her first day at Baihong Building, Tang Baihe encountered a terrifying apparition in an elevator, while Qin Manjiang could see the blood and supernatural signs she could no longer perceive. They reached the twenty-seventh floor together, where the elevator abruptly opened behind them on its own.

• Tang Baihe entered an elevator filled with flies and tainted blood, then panicked when an unseen figure seemed to enter and the ninth-floor button lit up with a bloody fingerprint.
• The elevator returned to the first floor, where Tang Baihe collided with Qin Manjiang and clung to him while security guards gathered.
• Tang Baihe described the ghostly elevator, but the security captain found it spotless; Qin Manjiang headed to the twenty-seventh floor, and Tang Baihe joined him.
• Qin Manjiang saw the elevator covered in fresh blood and considered resolving the paranormal incident for a one-time payment.
• Tang Baihe and Qin Manjiang reached the twenty-seventh floor, stepped into the quiet hallway, and watched the elevator doors open behind them by themselves.

Tang Baihe stayed late at Baihong and encountered Qin Manjiang while he patrolled the empty office floor. When the elevator sounded despite neither of them calling it, Qin Manjiang grabbed her wrist and told her to stay quiet.

• Qin Manjiang received an access pass and was told he could look around the twenty-seventh floor until the end of the workday.
• Tang Baihe stayed late to review documents, then heard slow footsteps and saw a face pressed against the glass door.
• Qin Manjiang revealed himself, and Tang Baihe apologized for grabbing him in the elevator that morning and learned his name.
• Tang Baihe heard the elevator doors open, and Qin Manjiang tensed because he had not called it.
• Qin Manjiang grabbed Tang Baihe's wrist and put a finger to his lips, telling her not to speak.

Qin Manjiang and Tang Baihe hid from a supernatural presence in the Baihong Building and escaped down the stairs. Outside, Qin Manjiang suspected the entity had left the ninth floor to search for something on the twenty-seventh.

• Qin Manjiang pulled Tang Baihe into the advertising department and hid with her as strange footsteps and dragging sounds approached.
• The sounds passed the office, and Qin Manjiang led Tang Baihe out into the corridor after they receded.
• Qin Manjiang saw a blood trail leading from the elevator, while Tang Baihe could not see it, and he stopped her from entering the blood-splattered elevator.
• Qin Manjiang and Tang Baihe took the stairs down and escaped the Baihong Building.
• Qin Manjiang recalled the bloody fingerprint on the ninth-floor button and wondered why the entity had searched the twenty-seventh floor.

After escaping the building’s ghost, Qin Manjiang helped Tang Baihe report the incident and drove her home. A call from Xi Wutong revealed that Nie Yunzhen had been murdered in Moon City twenty years ago, leaving Qin uneasy about the clues drawing him there.

• Tang Baihe decided to report the strange events in the building to the police, and Qin Manjiang agreed to take her home.
• On the drive, Tang Baihe learned that Qin Manjiang had dropped out of Fucheng University and encouraged him to return.
• Xi Wutong told Qin Manjiang that Nie Yunzhen was the victim of the Moon City March 7 Dismemberment Case and had been confirmed dead twenty years earlier.
• Qin Manjiang recalled that Nie Yunzhen had received zero Spirit Pupil reward in the Yellow Springs Opera and wondered whether she was human.
• Qin Manjiang declined Tang Baihe’s invitation to come upstairs and left with Moon City weighing on his mind.

After Qin Manjiang’s Relic Phone detected a ghost intrusion around Tang Baihe, she climbed the apartment stairs and realized something was following her. She texted Qin Manjiang for help as she continued toward the eighth floor.

• Qin Manjiang’s Relic Phone lit up and identified Tang Baihe as a Spirit Pupil holder while warning that a ghost intrusion was taking shape.
• Qin Manjiang sensed Tang Baihe was in danger and received her text asking for help on the stairs.
• Tang Baihe, wary of the elevator after the day’s events, chose to climb the dim, sound-activated stairwell.
• Tang Baihe heard footsteps behind her and kept climbing without looking back as they continued to follow.
• Tang Baihe texted Qin Manjiang for help and pressed on, hoping he would arrive before the presence caught her.

Tang Baihe escaped the ghost chasing her by reaching the third-floor hallway, where two residents opened their doors. After the residents left her alone in the elevator, it turned hostile and carried her toward the ninth floor, while Qin Manjiang arrived at the first-floor lobby and saw half of a familiar corpse fall from the shaft.

• Tang Baihe noticed two sets of footsteps approaching and ran into the third-floor hallway, where she pounded on apartment doors to bring residents out.
• Two residents opened their doors, causing the ghost’s reaching arm to disappear, and Tang Baihe told them an attacker had chased her.
• Tang Baihe went with the residents to the elevator, but they stepped out to close their apartment doors and the elevator doors slammed shut.
• Tang Baihe’s elevator descended through flickering red lights and the smell of rotting flesh, then opened between the first and second floors.
• The ninth-floor button lit by itself, the elevator doors closed, and the car accelerated upward as half of a bloody corpse fell away.
• Qin Manjiang rushed into the first-floor elevator lobby and saw half of a familiar corpse tumble out of the elevator shaft.

After Tang Baihe died, Qin Manjiang lost control of his body and used the Pupil Realm (Fu City) to create a new Ghost Story Game, recruiting his former class representative Qiao Ziruo. At Fucheng University, Qiao Ziruo activated the game and received the Lost Item story set in Baihong Building.

• Qin Manjiang found Tang Baihe dead and blamed himself for her death.
• Qin Manjiang's body moved against his will, and he tapped Yes on the Pupil Realm (Fu City) to create a new Ghost Story Game.
• The Pupil Realm recruited Qiao Ziruo and scheduled her game to begin on September 29 at 6 p.m.
• Qin Manjiang realized Qiao Ziruo might be his former class representative from Fucheng University.
• Qiao Ziruo found a ghost-faced app on her phone, entered the codename Ziruo, and activated Personal Mode.
• Qiao Ziruo received the Lost Item story about strange footsteps at Baihong Building in Fu City Central District.

After Tang Baihe’s corpse vanished from ordinary perception, Qin Manjiang learned that Qiao Ziruo had already entered the Ghost Story Game and resolved to protect her. He suspected he was a new consciousness inside Jiang Du’s body, but vowed to keep control of his own life, while Lin and a man in a white coat observed that the body had awakened.

• Qin Manjiang watched residents ignore Tang Baihe’s corpse and left the apartment building as the Vengeful Ghost erased her presence from the world.
• Qin Manjiang called Qiao Ziruo and warned her not to open the strange app, but she had already seen its demand that she go to Baihong Building by six the next evening or be erased.
• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo to rest and promised to wait outside the school gates in the morning, then angrily vowed not to surrender his body or sensations to anyone.
• Qin Manjiang connected Jiang Du to the body’s original owner and suspected that he himself was a new consciousness created inside it.
• In an underground laboratory, Lin confirmed that the body had activated, and the man in the white coat told him to help Qin Manjiang and act as one of his watchers.

After Nie Yunzhen left Qin Manjiang a cryptic warning and disappeared, Qin Manjiang confronted the possibility that Jiang Du was influencing his body, then dreamed of a version of himself crawling out of his throat. He woke with greater control over his body and discovered the date was September 29, signaling that something was beginning.

• Qin Manjiang returned home and found Nie Yunzhen gone, with a note telling him to stay alive and saying she had remembered something she needed to finish.
• Mi Qiao told Qin Manjiang that Nie Yunzhen had left about two hours earlier, around the time Xi Wutong called him.
• Qin Manjiang looked in the mirror, accused Jiang Du of trying to take over, and saw a horrifying vision of an identical person crawling out of his mouth.
• Qin Manjiang woke from the nightmare and realized he had spoken freely, unlike before when his body's limitations had restrained him.
• Qin Manjiang checked his phone and saw that it was September 29 at 8:54 a.m.

Qin Manjiang woke before his usual time and found that he could finally control his body without its restrictions, which he connected to the Ghost Story Game involving Qiao Ziruo. He met Qiao at Fucheng University and told her she could not escape the game, but promised to take responsibility.

• Qin Manjiang realized he had regained awareness before 7:30 and could act freely, and he suspected the change was linked to his body creating a Ghost Story Game and involving Qiao Ziruo.
• Qin Manjiang recalled how he had struggled against his body's imposed personality and hoped his newfound control would help him find Li Xijiu.
• Qiao Ziruo's roommates questioned why she was skipping class, and she made an awkward excuse about a job interview.
• Qiao Ziruo answered Qin Manjiang's call and went to meet him at the university gates.
• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo that she could not escape the game and promised to take responsibility for her.

Qin Manjiang explained the Ghost Story Game to Qiao Ziruo and helped her analyze the clues for her Beginner Level at Baihong Building. After researching the building and finding no reported incidents, they waited outside until the game began.

• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo that ghosts and the Ghost Story Game were real, and promised to help her.
• Qiao Ziruo showed Qin Manjiang the Opening Lines for the Lost Item ghost story at Baihong Building.
• Qin Manjiang helped Qiao Ziruo infer that the ghost had wandered the building without harming employees, but warned her not to rely on that hypothesis.
• Qin Manjiang and Qiao Ziruo researched Baihong Building and learned it belonged to the Bai family and housed businesses on many floors.
• Qiao Ziruo sensed someone watching her outside Baihong Building, and Qin Manjiang advised her not to enter before the game started.

Qiao Ziruo entered Baihong Building to investigate the Ghost Story Game while Qin Manjiang was barred from entering by a blood-red boundary. She headed toward the twenty-seventh floor, but the elevator stopped at the ninth floor, where a brick wall appeared behind the doors.

• At the building entrance, a blood-red line threw Qin Manjiang back outside as Qiao Ziruo entered Baihong Building.
• Qin Manjiang and Qiao Ziruo agreed to stay in contact by phone while he watched the game begin from outside.
• Qiao Ziruo waited for an elevator, then asked a security guard to accompany her to the twenty-seventh floor because she claimed to have claustrophobia.
• In the elevator, Qiao Ziruo spotted a blood-red fingerprint on the ninth-floor button and learned that the floor was vacant.
• The elevator stopped at the ninth floor, and its doors opened onto a wall made of red and white bricks.

Qiao Ziruo and a security guard escaped the trapped elevator onto the unfinished ninth floor, but she refused to leave with him. She believed the ghost was still searching for her and stayed behind for reasons she had not yet explained.

• A strange voice came through the guard’s radio, and Qiao Ziruo smashed it after noticing its indicator light had not turned on.
• Qiao Ziruo reasoned that the ghost could not sense her location yet, but feared it would discover the elevator was stopped on the ninth floor.
• The guard kicked down the brick wall behind the elevator doors, and Qiao Ziruo and the guard stepped onto the unfinished floor.
• The guard switched on his flashlight and headed for the stairwell, calling for Qiao Ziruo to follow.
• Qiao Ziruo thanked him but told him to go without her because she could not leave.