Chapter Summaries

Qin Manjiang headed to Sleep Mountain Psychiatric Hospital to visit Qin Manyi, carrying the mysterious phone left by his birth father. On the shuttle, a stranger named Zhou warned him to avoid unlucky places, and Qin Manjiang arrived at the hospital with the phone still switched off.

• Qin Manjiang left Mi Qiao and set out for Sleep Mountain Psychiatric Hospital after receiving a message from a woman he wanted to avoid.
• On the shuttle, Qin Manjiang considered turning on the phone Doctor had mailed him, but his urge faded after the vehicle stopped.
• A man surnamed Zhou sat beside Qin Manjiang, said his friend had gone mad, and asked whether they had met before.
• Zhou warned Qin Manjiang that an ill omen darkened the space between his brows and told him to stay away from unlucky places.
• Qin Manjiang agreed to remember Zhou's warning, put the phone away, and reached Sleep Mountain Psychiatric Hospital shortly before eleven.

Qin Manjiang visited Qin Manyi in the hospital and learned that she was Evening Primrose, the Sixth Seat, after clearing only one Ghost Story Game. Qin Manyi told him how her dream of Lower River Village had led to their father’s death and blamed Qin Manjiang, before he comforted her as her older brother.

• Qin Manjiang visited Qin Manyi and brought her fruit, then told her he would try to get her leave to visit their parents’ graves.
• Qin Manyi revealed that she was Evening Primrose, the Sixth Seat, and had reached that position after clearing her first Ghost Story Game.
• Qin Manyi explained that her Beginner Level mission involved Lower River Village and that she had dreamed for two years about people walking into the river to kill themselves.
• Qin Manyi said she had tried to stop their father from going to the river, but he locked her inside, and she blamed Qin Manjiang for his death and her place in the game.
• Qin Manjiang held Qin Manyi as she cried and reassured her that he was her older brother and always would be.

After the Ghost Story: My Aging Self ended, Qin Manjiang reflected on his lack of personal desires and decided to open the Relic Phone despite the warning in the suicide note. Thick fog suddenly covered Fu City, and players received an inexplicable notice that Ghost Story: Person in the Coffin had been cleared.

• Qin Manjiang comforted Qin Manyi in the hospital and left to bring her lunch.
• The players received a notice that Ghost Story: My Aging Self had been cleared, and Fu City endured repeated overnight fog.
• Qin Manjiang made plans to get Qin Manyi out of the psychiatric hospital and find a job while putting off thoughts about the Ghost Story Game.
• Qin Manjiang decided to stop hesitating and unlocked the Relic Phone with his fingerprint.
• Thick fog descended over Fu City as players received a notice that Ghost Story: Person in the Coffin had been cleared, though they did not remember taking part.

Zhong Ping'an discovered that the Ghost Story Game had marked a story called “Person in the Coffin” as cleared, just as a body vanished from the funeral home’s mysterious underground cold storage. Meanwhile, Nie Yunzhen took First Seat, and Qin Manjiang received a call from that person on a keepsake phone.

• Zhong Ping'an saw the game announce that “Person in the Coffin” had been cleared and learned that a body had gone missing from the funeral home.
• Zhong Ping'an went down to the third underground level and saw the chained, locked cold-storage room standing open.
• Zhong Ping'an checked the leaderboard and saw that Singer had fallen to Tenth Seat.
• Qin Manjiang called Zhong Xueran, who told him to look at the new First Seat.
• Qin Manjiang saw Nie Yunzhen at First Seat and Yang at Second Seat, then ended the call with Zhong Xueran.
• Qin Manjiang received a call from Nie Yunzhen on the keepsake phone he had just unlocked.

Qin Manjiang answered a call from a woman who could not remember who she was and went to find her near Mermaid Fountain. Meanwhile, Ghost Story players reacted to Nie Yunzhen’s sudden rise to First Seat, and Shen Hai explained how he and Yang Liuye survived [My Aging Self] as the city disappeared into thick fog.

• Qin Manjiang heard a confused woman ask who she was, identified Mermaid Fountain as her location, and hurried to find her.
• Ghost Story players speculated that Nie Yunzhen had cleared an ongoing, no-time-limit Ghost Story called [Person in the Coffin] and reached First Seat.
• Shen Hai met Yang Liuye at Catface Café after they cleared [My Aging Self] and she thanked him for helping her survive.
• Shen Hai explained that “retribution” suggested the victim was not innocent and that “care” meant the players were not obliged to obey the ghost’s every demand.
• Shen Hai said that avoiding physical contact and adapting instead of following the ghost’s requests had allowed Yang Liuye to survive.
• Thick fog suddenly shrouded the city as Shen Hai said goodbye to Yang Liuye.

Qin Manjiang found the amnesiac, deathly pale Nie Yunzhen in the fog and brought her to his home, where Mi Qiao helped her clean up. When Qin Manjiang tried to reassure her, Nie Yunzhen reacted with terror and called him “Professor.”

• Qin Manjiang confirmed that the woman beneath the tree was Nie Yunzhen and took her away from the freezing fog in a taxi.
• Nie Yunzhen could not recognize her name or remember where she was, and she told the driver she wanted to go with Qin Manjiang.
• Mi Qiao welcomed Qin Manjiang and helped Nie Yunzhen bathe and change into her clothes.
• Qin Manjiang asked Doctor Xi to investigate Nie Yunzhen’s identity, and Doctor Xi agreed to look into it.
• After Qin Manjiang told Nie Yunzhen not to be afraid, she hid behind Mi Qiao and fearfully called him “Professor.”

After Nie Yunzhen arrived, Qin Manjiang withdrew to his room and examined the strange Relic Phone. Touching its eye plunged him into a barrage of horrific voices, and he emerged to find a new interface labeled Eye Realm and Proxy.

• Qin Manjiang stopped Nie Yunzhen from asking about the professor, then asked Mi Qiao to look after her and went to his room.
• Mi Qiao noticed Little Yellow Dog cowering around Nie Yunzhen and realized the dog seemed afraid of the girl.
• Qin Manjiang examined the Relic Phone and found the Ghost Story Game icon and contacts named Zuo Xian and Yi Lianhai.
• Qin Manjiang pressed the eye on the screen and was overwhelmed by a spinning world and a flood of eerie voices.
• After collapsing, Qin Manjiang saw the phone display an interface labeled Eye Realm and Proxy.

Qin Manjiang entered a higher-dimensional space connected to the Relic Phone, where he saw the players and cities through countless eyes. He summoned Yang and several other players into the space, just as the Ghost Story Game announced an Ultimate Game: Yellow Springs Opera.

• Qin Manjiang entered his real name under the blood-red Proxy label and was drawn out of his body into a vast space filled with pupils.
• Qin Manjiang saw the players’ code names within a sphere representing Fu City, including the intensely red names Yang and Nie Yunzhen, and glimpsed other cities beyond it.
• Qin Manjiang focused on Yang’s name, pulling Yang from his body and into the space, though Yang could not see him or the city sphere.
• Qin Manjiang tried to summon Swimming Fish but failed, then summoned Doctor, Player, Xinxin, Chen Zhiyuan, Let Me Out, Dense Forest, Singer, So Annoying, and Nie Yunzhen.
• The Ghost Story Game summoned its players and announced the Ultimate Game, Ghost Story: Yellow Springs Opera.

Qin Manjiang’s use of the mysterious phone triggered an Ultimate Game that summoned the Ten Seats and unexpectedly included him as Abyss. The game began with Yellow Springs Opera, leaving the players facing its opening lines.

• Qin Manjiang realized the phone had summoned the Ten Seats into an unfamiliar space and started an Ultimate Game.
• Chen Zhiyuan, Dense Forest, Doctor, and Shen Hai examined the lit Spirit Pupil symbols and speculated that the space required players to clear ten Ultimate Games.
• Crimson writing summoned ten players, then added Abyss; Qin Manjiang’s body appeared in the space and drew the others’ attention.
• Let Me Out questioned why Qin Manjiang had been summoned and whether he possessed a Permanent Item, while Qin Manjiang reflected on the phone and his unexplained actions.
• The opening lines of Yellow Springs Opera appeared on the players’ phone screens and in the void.

After leaving the mysterious space, Mei Sijun returned to his study and reflected on the Southern Branch Troupe, then dreamed of its past. He awoke to a call from Yang, still unaware whether the dream had revealed anything about the coming Ghost Story.

• The Crimson Text disappeared, and Qin Manjiang saw the labels Yin-Yang Alley and Yellow Springs Opera appear beneath two Spirit Pupils before he was expelled from the space.
• Mei Sijun returned to the real world and dismissed Uncle Li, then considered the Southern Branch Troupe and his family's history with opera.
• Mei Sijun fell asleep and dreamed of a crowded opera house where merchants Wang Youde and another man watched the Southern Branch Troupe perform.
• Wang Youde spotted a young woman backstage and demanded that Zhao Qigong bring her to him; Zhao said the troupe had six newcomers.
• Mei Sijun woke when Yang called and answered, still thinking the dream was strange.

Qin Manjiang discovered that his memento appeared as a locked Permanent Item, then joined the Ten Seats at Catface Café to discuss the sudden Ultimate Game. As the group questioned his connection to the absent Evening Primrose, Mei Sijun revealed that he had dreamed about the Southern Branch Troupe.

• Qin Manjiang checked his game interface, found Pupil Realm (Fucheng) listed as a locked Permanent Item, and received Yang's call inviting him to a meeting.
• Yang learned that Nie Yunzhen was with Qin Manjiang, and the Ten Seats gathered at Catface Café to discuss the Ultimate Game.
• Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen arrived, and Shen Hai introduced himself to Nie Yunzhen, who ignored his offered handshake.
• Chen Zhiyuan and Dense Forest questioned Qin Manjiang about his possible connection to Evening Primrose, but Qin Manjiang denied knowing anything.
• Yang redirected the group to the coming Ultimate Game, and Mei Sijun said he had dreamed about the Southern Branch Troupe.

Mei Sijun told the group about his dream of the Southern Branch Troupe and explained the dangerous customs of yin opera. He revealed that his family owned the troupe’s former opera house, where the group was due to go in three days, and Yang ended by pointing out an unusual omission in the game’s instructions.

• Mei Sijun recounted his dream of the Southern Branch Troupe a hundred years earlier, ending as its leader Zhao Qigong prepared to choose one of six newcomers for a merchant.
• Mei Sijun explained that the troupe was taboo because it accepted yin opera engagements and did not worship protective gods, then described the performance’s strict rituals and rules.
• Mei Sijun said that the troupe’s specialty, Farewell My Concubine, could still be heard at midnight in old Fu City opera houses, according to stories from his elders.
• Mei Sijun revealed that his family owned the Southern Branch Troupe’s old opera house at its western outskirts residence, which his family kept empty apart from monthly cleanings.
• Yang asked why neither the Opening Lines nor the game requirements had mentioned the word “game.”

After the players gathered to discuss the Ghost Story, Qin Manjiang confronted Nie Yunzhen about her mysterious origins and decided to keep his distance. He reconsidered after realizing she had no memories or familiarity with the world and brought her home.

• The players agreed to explore separately while staying in contact, and Dense Forest offered his Permanent Item for communication.
• Qin Manjiang asked Nie Yunzhen who she was and reflected on her connection to [Eye Realm] and his own unusual behavior around her.
• Qin Manjiang told Nie Yunzhen to contact him in three days and walked away, warning her not to follow him.
• Qin Manjiang reconsidered after seeing Nie Yunzhen remain alone in the mist, realizing he might be the only familiar person in her world.
• Qin Manjiang returned to Nie Yunzhen and told her to come home with him until she regained her memory.

Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen reached the river near the Southern Branch Troupe, where they and Mei Sijun and Yang witnessed a ghost opera performed by ghosts. When the singing stopped, rotting corpses began climbing out of the river.

• Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen followed Mei Sijun's directions through the mist to a river marked by footprints.
• Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen spotted lantern-lit boats carrying paper effigies and masked boatmen on the river.
• Nie Yunzhen caught Yang as he approached, and Yang warned Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen that the figures aboard the boats did not look human.
• Mei Sijun identified the scene as a ghost opera and explained that the ghosts were singing The Unicorn-Pouch.
• When the singing stopped, Yang dragged Mei Sijun toward higher ground as Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen fled from corpses emerging from the river.

Mei Sijun recognized the ghosts’ opera as a contest between rival stages, but a third ghostly performance trapped him, Yang, Qin Manjiang, and Nie Yunzhen between merging rivers. Qin Manjiang drowned, and his corpse surfaced as the others watched from the water.

• Mei Sijun tried to approach the river to study the Southern Branch Troupe’s Dead-Person Opera, but Yang restrained him.
• The corpses on the bank sang The Unicorn-Pouch in opposition to the paper figures on the boats, and Mei Sijun identified their performance as a contest between rival stages.
• A female ghost began singing Searching Mount Yin, and Mei Sijun warned that she would drag them to the underworld.
• Two identical rivers appeared around the group and merged, pulling all four into the water as the boats and masked rowers surrounded them.
• Mei Sijun warned everyone not to look at the rowers’ faces, while Yang pulled him and Nie Yunzhen close but could not reach Qin Manjiang.
• Qin Manjiang sank beneath the water, and his corpse later floated to the surface before Yang, Mei Sijun, and Nie Yunzhen.

Qin Manjiang awakened in the body of a frail troupe member called Xiao Qi aboard the Southern Branch Troupe’s boat, where the crew fought off water ghosts with music and opera. After the danger passed, he realized Xiao Qi might be one of the six new talents from Mei Sijun’s dream, and learned the troupe was traveling to perform Yellow Springs Opera.

• Qin Manjiang woke after drowning in an unfamiliar body aboard a Southern Branch Troupe boat and kept quiet to avoid revealing himself.
• The Old Drummer warned him not to speak during the midnight hour, as ghosts had emerged around the boat.
• Water ghosts climbed the boat’s sides, so the troupe played instruments and a woman sang “Searching Mount Yin” to keep them from boarding.
• The boatman announced that they had nearly escaped the haunted waters, and the Old Drummer told Qin Manjiang to learn Yin Opera from his sworn sister.
• Qin Manjiang connected Xiao Qi to the six new talents in Mei Sijun’s dream, and the Old Drummer revealed they were going to perform Yellow Springs Opera.

Qin Manjiang learned that the Southern Branch Troupe had to perform a Yellow Springs Opera in a Vengeful Ghost’s territory, while Mei Sijun discovered he had possessed Lin Yanqing and was expected to sing for the ghost. The troupe found its curtain attendant Old Liu dead aboard the boat as it continued toward its destination.

• The Old Drummer explained to Qin Manjiang that Yellow Springs Opera meant performing in the ghosts’ territory, and warned that refusing the invitation would bring something worse than the water ghosts.
• Qin Manjiang realized the troupe had angered a Vengeful Ghost and rested as the fleet continued down the river.
• Mei Sijun, inhabiting Lin Yanqing’s body, recognized that he would have to perform the Yellow Springs Opera because he was the troupe’s strongest singer.
• Mei Sijun smelled a corpse and called for help, prompting Zhao Qigong and the troupe members to search Lin Yanqing’s room.
• Zhao Qigong’s people found Old Liu’s corpse, and Chen Xiangkui questioned whether the troupe should continue toward the ghost’s territory.

Mei Sijun pondered whether his group had traveled back a hundred years or entered a ghostly dream as the Southern Branch Troupe journeyed through the Reed Marsh. The troupe encountered a towering paper ship bearing its own name, and the Ten Seats realized the ghost behind their ordeal seemed capable of thought.

• Mei Sijun considered how to identify himself to the others and reflected on the lost traditions of Yin Opera, Ghost Opera, and Yellow Springs Opera.
• Mei Sijun surveyed the troupe’s boats and duties, estimating that his group of eleven could make up a substantial part of the troupe.
• A shout of “A Ghost Ship is coming!” woke Qin Manjiang and alarmed the musicians aboard his boat.
• Zhao Qigong recognized the silent, towering white vessel as a Paper Boat, while Chen Xiangkui said the haunting woman was forcing them to perform Yellow Springs Opera.
• Paper Boys and Girls lining the Paper Boat welcomed the troupe in unison, and Qin Manjiang and the hidden Ten Seats sensed that the ghost had thoughts.

The Southern Branch Troupe reached a corridor of paper figures that forced them toward a mysterious well, while Qin Manjiang escaped the Old Drummer’s control and reunited with Mei Sijun. The troupe stopped at the well, unsure whether the ghost expected them to jump in and perform.

• Zhao Qigong ordered the troupe to dock and prepare to perform for the ghost, while the Old Drummer subdued Qin Manjiang and had him tied up.
• The troupe landed and found two rows of paper figures that shouted for them to perform as they marched onward.
• Qin Manjiang recognized Mei Sijun as his sworn older sister, and Mei Sijun intervened to stop the Old Drummer from taking him back.
• Qin Manjiang introduced himself to Mei Sijun as Abyss, and the two quietly confirmed they were from the Modern Era.
• The paper figures led the Southern Branch Troupe to a deep well and ordered them to go inside.

The troupe prepared to perform for the female ghost after she killed He Zhongping for trying to flee. As Qin Manjiang and the others investigated the troupe, the original Lin Yanqing appeared to surface through Mei Sijun’s body.

• The Paper Boy and Girl killed He Zhongping when he tried to escape, and Zhao Qigong ordered the troupe to change costumes, apply makeup, and perform for the ghost.
• Qin Manjiang reunited with Yang and Nie Yunzhen, and they realized only the four people who fell into the water had appeared in this place.
• The three agreed to investigate the female ghost’s life and meet again after learning more, while Qin Manjiang stayed near Mei Sijun.
• Mei Sijun, dressed as Miss Lin, sang from “The Unicorn-Pouch” while arranging her hair, and Qin Manjiang recognized the opera.
• Miss Lin’s resentful presence emerged through Mei Sijun’s body and asked Qin Manjiang whether he agreed that she could not remain unmoved by her older sister’s death.