Chapter Summaries

Yang learned that all five players in the newly emerged [Wedding Dress] tale had been wiped out within half an hour, despite the requirement to survive for six hours and their use of powerful survival items. The tale left Yang fearing it was unsolvable and could threaten even the Ten Seats.

• Yang learned from Home Flower that [Wedding Dress] would take place at Huai'an Residential Complex and require players to survive for six hours.
• Yang investigated Huai'an Residential Complex and discovered it was an abandoned, old residential complex in southern Fu City, known for its enormous locust tree.
• Yang learned that all five players in [Wedding Dress] had been wiped out only half an hour after the tale began.
• Yang realized that the players' survival items, including Home Flower's [Substitute Doll], had failed to save them.
• Yang received Home Flower's final message, “[Unsolvable!!!!!],” and feared that [Wedding Dress] could alter the Ten Seats.

Shen Hai questioned why the Candy Game required Players to unravel the ghost story, while Xu Youqing and Tan Murong were discovered by Vengeful Ghosts during hide-and-seek. Both realized they could move after being touched, leaving them to decide whether to reveal that they were Players.

• Shen Hai suspected that the requirement to unravel the ghost story was hiding something beyond the Game's goal of victory.
• Xu Youqing concluded that the Vengeful Ghosts knew where every Player was hiding and would eventually find them.
• Older sister opened the wardrobe and wrapped her tongue around Xu Youqing, who was disguised as red underpants.
• Xu Youqing realized he could move after the ghost touched him, but feared that moving would expose him as a Player.
• Yang Liuye tore open the kitchen floor and found Tan Murong, who also realized she could move after being discovered.

Qin Manjiang realized the hide-and-seek game was a choice-based test: players had to distinguish the Candy Ghost from the Vengeful Ghost and decide whether to move when caught. Xu Youqing stayed still after Older Sister found him, triggering a switch that left Yang Liuye facing him, while Tan Murong survived by staying still when Yang Liuye found her.

• Qin Manjiang concluded that the ghosts already knew where the players were hiding and that the real test was whether they moved when caught.
• Qin Manjiang identified Older Sister as the Candy Ghost and Yang Liuye as the Vengeful Ghost, reasoning that players found by Older Sister had to move while those found by Yang Liuye had to stay still.
• Xu Youqing and Tan Murong both chose to stay still when the countdown ended.
• Yang Liuye set Tan Murong down without harming her, but Older Sister and Yang Liuye then switched places.
• Yang Liuye appeared before Xu Youqing and told him to die with her.

After surviving the second round, the players examined its strange rules and learned Yu Ruoli had used her sketchbook clue to pause the game. Shen Hai uncovered memories suggesting the game was eliminating players to preserve its framework, but when he tried to choose a victim, his body resisted; Qin Manjiang then claimed he knew a way to survive.

• Yang Liuye killed Xu Youqing, and the little girl announced that the second round was over before the other players had made their choices.
• The four survivors returned beneath the chandelier, where the little girl announced a third round of Truth or Dare with three candies and ten minutes to prepare.
• Tan Murong described being caught by the ghost, and Qin Manjiang explained his deductions about the second round's rules.
• Yu Ruoli revealed that she had paused the game by raising her hand after interpreting a clue drawing from her Spirit Medium Sketchbook.
• Shen Hai used his Faded Memories item to view fragments of past rounds and concluded that the game was forcing the rounds to fit a pattern of diminishing players.
• Shen Hai prepared to kill Qin Manjiang, but his body resisted; Qin Manjiang noticed his gaze and taunted him, claiming he knew a way to survive.

Qin Manjiang realized that the Candy Game could be disrupted by treating it as a game with hidden commands, then broke the chandelier to prevent it from restarting. He and Shen Hai, Tan Murong, and Yu Ruoli escaped the villa district as the ghosts pursued them, and their phones confirmed that they had cleared the game.

• Tan Murong reflected on her difficult life and realized she wanted to survive after the Vengeful Ghost nearly killed her.
• Qin Manjiang explained that the game’s phases and the chandelier’s light revealed how the Candy Game operated, while Shen Hai connected the chandelier to the game’s transitions.
• Qin Manjiang waited for the light to dim, shattered the chandelier with a rolling pin, and led the others out as the game’s ghosts emerged and pursued them.
• Tan Murong and Shen Hai each helped the frightened, exhausted Qin Manjiang keep running while Yu Ruoli led the group through the villa district.
• The four escaped through the district gates, and Qin Manjiang’s phone announced that the Candy Game was cleared.

After solving the Candy Game, Qin Manjiang received fifty Spirit Pupil Points and wondered whether Fu City was an arena containing players as prey for ghosts. He woke in Lin Ci’s Quiet Bar, where she invited him to talk, while Tan Murong had returned to work.

• Qin Manjiang received fifty Spirit Pupil Points for clearing the Candy Game, while other players received smaller rewards.
• Shen Hai mocked Qin Manjiang’s frail body, and Tan Murong helped him leave the rain-soaked Blue Bay Villa District.
• Qin Manjiang saw that the Vengeful Ghosts remained trapped inside their territory and imagined Fu City as an arena enclosed by the Eye Realm.
• Qin Manjiang woke in a staff room at Lin Ci’s Quiet Bar and learned that Tan Murong had brought him there after he fell asleep.
• Lin Ci explained that she had removed Qin Manjiang’s muddy clothes and pointed out his phones and Eye Realm before asking him to talk.

Qiao Ziruo escaped the deadly [Don't Speak] game after Nie Yunzhen sacrificed herself to clear a path. Just as Qin Manyi and Qiao Ziruo mourned Nie Yunzhen, the woman appeared behind them and said she was fine.

• Qin Manyi told Qin Manjiang that three players had died in [Don't Speak], leaving only Qiao Ziruo and Nie Yunzhen alive.
• Qiao Ziruo and Nie Yunzhen fled the apartment building but found a giant mouth blocking the exit and a Vengeful Ghost closing in behind them.
• Nie Yunzhen deliberately said, "Run," causing both ghosts to teleport to her and bite her body in half.
• Qiao Ziruo ran for the exit, and Nie Yunzhen briefly fought back from inside the ghost's mouth, giving Qiao Ziruo time to escape the building.
• Qin Manjiang received the [Cleared] notice as Qiao Ziruo sobbed over Nie Yunzhen's apparent death.
• A frail woman in a white dress appeared behind Qin Manyi and told Qiao Ziruo, "I'm fine."

Qin Manyi and Qiao Ziruo learned that Nie Yunzhen had survived the ghost story through her Shared-Fate Lock, which linked her life to another player. Meanwhile, Qin Manjiang started work at Lin Ci’s bar, Clear Pupil, whose name stirred a faint sense of familiarity in him.

• Qiao Ziruo hugged Nie Yunzhen after learning she had survived, and Nie Yunzhen revealed that her Shared-Fate Lock kept her alive as long as her chosen player lived.
• Qin Manjiang realized that someone else from [Person in the Coffin] must have survived alongside Nie Yunzhen, and he grew alarmed that this person might still be watching him.
• Lin Ci offered Qin Manjiang a job at her lounge bar, and he negotiated a trial-month salary of four thousand with the possibility of a raise.
• Qin Manjiang began cleaning tables and learned that the bar was called Clear Pupil, a name that sparked a fleeting feeling of familiarity.

Qin Manjiang moved out to work at the Clear-Eyed Leisure Bar, while Mi Qiao left with a cryptic warning not to go to Moon City. A week later, he left work early to meet Mei Sijun and the other Players, as Lin Ci wondered about his changed personality.

• Qin Manjiang told Qin Manyi he had found a job at the Clear-Eyed Leisure Bar and urged her to return to school and prepare for the college entrance exam.
• Mi Qiao told Qin Manjiang she was leaving for Moon City and quietly warned him not to go there; Qin Manyi suspected he had fallen for Mi Qiao.
• After a week working at the quiet bar, Qin Manjiang asked Lin Ci to leave early to attend Mei Sijun's opera performance and meet the other Players.
• Lin Ci watched Qin Manjiang leave and wondered what had caused his personality to change so completely.

Bai Yang's estate burned in a catastrophic fire, and those waiting in Fu City learned he had not escaped. Qin Manjiang revealed that Yang had tried to leave the Ghost Story Game and had entrusted him with a message about the world changing as Players gained Spirit Pupils.

• Fire captain Yan Lie and detective Zhou Fan found that Bai Yang was still inside the burning estate, where a violent explosion made rescue impossible.
• At the Fu City Theatre plaza, Chen Zhiyuan told Qin Manjiang that Yang was missing in the fire, and Yan Xiao confirmed the report through his brother, the fire captain.
• Qin Manjiang said Yang had pursued a chance to leave the Ghost Story Game and had asked him to help everyone find a way out if Yang died.
• Qin Manjiang revealed Yang's warning that rising Spirit Pupil counts made the world and its people appear grotesque, while Qin Manjiang himself had not changed.

After Yang's body was found, his friends split up, and Qin Manjiang went to headquarters with four others. There, Yang's sister arrived and learned that his body showed no burns despite the intense fire.

• Yan Lie told Yan Xiao that Yang's body had been found and that something about it was strange, but Yan Xiao chose not to go to headquarters because he did not want to see Yan Lie.
• Xu Yi reminded Yan Xiao that he had saved many people, then went with the others to headquarters.
• Chen Zhiyuan and three of Yang's friends went to Bai Yang's villa, while Yu Ruoli and Xinxin went home; Qin Manjiang, Zhong Xueran, Xu Yi, Shen Hai, and Liu Jingqing went to headquarters.
• Bai Hongdan, Yang's younger sister, arrived at headquarters and took Qin Manjiang inside to meet Captain Zhou Fan.
• Zhou Fan told Bai Hongdan and Qin Manjiang that Bai Yang had not burned to death and his body bore no burns, then asked Qin Manjiang if he was Jiang Du.

Qin Manjiang and Bai Hongdan learned that the corpse identified as Bai Yang belonged to a version of him at least ten years in the future, while Qin Manjiang kept the Ghost Story Game secret. After leaving the autopsy room, he felt a sudden palpitation and discovered that Eye Realm had detected an unknown ghost story.

• Xia Nan let Qin Manjiang and Bai Hongdan into the autopsy room, where he revealed that the body was genetically Bai Yang but appeared to be about thirty-eight years old.
• Xia Nan told Zhou Fan that the body seemed to be Bai Yang from at least ten years in the future, and Zhou Fan agreed to keep the finding secret.
• Bai Hongdan said she had barely seen her brother in three years and doubted he was dead, while Qin Manjiang concealed what he knew about the Ghost Story Game.
• In the corridor, Bai Hongdan asked whether Qin Manjiang had become involved in supernatural trouble, and he rushed away after a sudden palpitation.
• Qin Manjiang opened Eye Realm and saw a detection notice for an unknown ghost story.

Qin Manjiang discovered that the Eye Realm had automatically recruited forensic pathologist Xia Nan, but Xia Nan accepted the invitation despite Qin Manjiang’s warning. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang wondering whether the Eye Realm could claim other players and give them different tasks.

• Qin Manjiang saw that the Eye Realm had recruited Xia Nan and rushed to warn him not to open unfamiliar links on his phone.
• Qin Manjiang told Xia Nan that an unknown link might draw him into an experience like Yang’s, and Xia Nan said his work had convinced him that supernatural forces existed.
• Xia Nan opened the recruitment message, entered “Forensic Pathologist” as his codename, and began the personal-mode game “Out of Control.”
• Xia Nan asked whether the hidden world was called the Eye Realm, and Qin Manjiang recognized that Xia Nan’s game interface belonged to the Eye Realm rather than the Ghost Story Game.
• Qin Manjiang urged Xia Nan to contact him and stay alert, then wondered whether he could take players from the Ghost Story Game and assign them different tasks.

Xia Nan’s body began acting independently and developing unexplained wounds as [Ghost Story: Loss of Control] took effect. He left headquarters in alarm, while the incident brought Zhou Fan’s memories of Jiang Du back to the surface.

• Qin Manjiang wondered whether the thirty-eight-year-old Bai Yang was connected to Yang’s [Reverse-Time Hourglass] and reflected on the dangers surrounding him.
• Zhou Fan demanded that Xia Nan rewrite the autopsy report to describe Bai Yang’s body as an ordinary fire death, but Xia Nan refused.
• Xia Nan’s finger twitched and his leg kicked Zhou Fan without his awareness, making him suspect that [Ghost Story: Loss of Control] had begun.
• Cuts appeared across Xia Nan’s face and arm, and he realized that his body and senses were no longer under his control.
• Xia Nan left the autopsy room and warned Zhou Fan not to let anyone touch Bai Yang’s body, as more cuts opened across him when he moved.
• The strange events reminded Zhou Fan of a conversation with Jiang Du twenty years earlier about questioning reality and trusting one’s own heart.

Xia Nan’s body continued to go out of control as Qin Manjiang tried to get him to safety at Cityheart Lake. After Xia Nan nearly strangled Qin Manjiang in the car, his fingers bent backward and broke, leaving them desperate to discover what was causing the loss of control.

• Qin Manjiang analyzed the [Opening Lines] of Xia Nan’s [Out of Control] Game and realized it had no geographical limit.
• Xia Nan told Qin Manjiang that his skin was splitting and his limbs were beginning to move without his control, so Qin Manjiang drove him toward Cityheart Lake.
• Xia Nan’s hands seized Qin Manjiang’s throat, but Qin Manjiang escaped by reclining the car seat and using his legs to pin Xia Nan down.
• Xia Nan’s fingers bent backward and broke, and Qin Manjiang worried that Xia Nan would not survive the day unless they found the cause.

Xia Nan and Qin Manjiang investigated why Xia Nan’s body was moving against his will and discovered invisible hair controlling him inside enclosed spaces. They fled the car, but Qin Manjiang warned that the Opening Lines still predicted Xia Nan’s neck would twist, leaving the cause and timing of that danger unresolved.

• Xia Nan asked Qin Manjiang to help him out of the car, and they continued toward Cityheart Lake while Xia Nan questioned why his body was losing control.
• Xia Nan asked Qin Manjiang to return him to the car so he could test whether an internal consciousness or an external force was controlling his body.
• When Xia Nan’s left leg rose unnaturally inside the car, Qin Manjiang pulled him out, and Xia Nan saw dense, invisible hair wrapped around his leg in the rearview mirror.
• Xia Nan concluded that the hair controlled his limbs after he stayed in one place too long, and Qin Manjiang agreed that they should keep moving.
• Qin Manjiang pointed out that the Opening Lines predicted Xia Nan’s neck would twist, and Xia Nan wondered whether a different rule would cause that final loss of control.

Xu Yi and the others learned that Bai Yang’s body was at least thirty-eight years old, while Qin Manjiang had left with an injured forensic doctor. Qin Manjiang and Xia Nan discovered that something had taken control of their bodies, but they did not know how to stop it.

• Xu Yi stopped Zhong Xueran from entering the General Bureau and called Bai Hongdan over to speak with them.
• Bai Hongdan took Xu Yi, Zhong Xueran, Shen Hai, and Liu Jingqing to the Catface Café, where she told them the body found at the fire scene was at least thirty-eight years old.
• Bai Hongdan said Qin Manjiang had left with the injured forensic doctor, prompting Xu Yi and Shen Hai to rush out of the café.
• Bai Hongdan asked Zhong Xueran and Liu Jingqing to tell her about her brother while Xu Yi and Shen Hai left.
• At Cityheart Lake, Xia Nan described how he could no longer control his body, and Qin Manjiang said he understood the feeling.

Xia Nan explained why he believed the Ghost Story’s warning to keep moving was a trap and chose to remain still long enough to test what happened. Qin Manjiang warned him that the hair must have a source, and Xia Nan accepted the risk as his own.

• Xia Nan told Qin Manjiang that the hair appeared after three minutes of staying still and that the loss of control in his hands and feet might be meant to frighten him into moving.
• Xia Nan theorized that continuing to move would hide the true danger until his neck became affected near the end of the Game.
• Xia Nan decided to stay in one place for more than three minutes, while Qin Manjiang stepped away to avoid being strangled again.
• Qin Manjiang reminded Xia Nan that the hair had to grow from a source, which might be dangerous even if it seemed harmless.
• Xia Nan told Qin Manjiang not to worry and said he did not blame him for his choice.

Xia Nan survived [Out of Control] by discovering and destroying the red comb that produced the hair, clearing the Ghost Story. The game then locked, announced its preliminaries had ended, and transported the remaining players into Infinite Mode.

• Outside the café, Shen Hai questioned Xu Yi about his connection to Qin Manjiang, but Xu Yi denied knowing anything and kept following him.
• At Cityheart Lake, Xia Nan tested his theory in a restroom mirror while Qin Manjiang watched from a distance.
• Xia Nan dodged his right hand when it attacked his throat, then saw black hair appear in the mirror and bind his limbs.
• Xia Nan turned toward the mirror and found a blood-red comb behind his back, where the hair was growing from.
• Xia Nan smashed the comb against the sink, freeing his legs and clearing [Out of Control].
• The Ghost Story Game announced that the preliminaries had ended, activated Infinite Mode, and transported the remaining players away from the real world.

The surviving Players were summoned to the Eye Realm, where Nie Yunzhen revealed that the Ghost Story Game was controlled by a higher-dimensional god and that lighting all ten Spirit Pupil dots was their only way to survive. She explained that Infinite Mode let each Ghost Story connect to infinite hell and potentially become an Ultimate Game.

• The forty-nine surviving Players arrived in the Eye Realm, and Shen Hai realized Qin Manjiang had a way to enter the Game without being notified as a Player.
• Nie Yunzhen appeared transformed and announced that she was the new First Seat and that the former First Seat, Mr. Yang, was dead.
• Nie Yunzhen identified the Eye Realm as the true Ghost Story Game and said a higher-dimensional god had created it and treated the Players as toys.
• Nie Yunzhen pointed out ten Spirit Pupil dots representing Ultimate Games, said two were already lit, and called lighting the rest their only way to survive.
• A female Player asked what Infinite Mode meant, and Nie Yunzhen explained that only one Game would begin at a time, but every Ghost Story could connect to infinite hell and become an Ultimate Game.