Chapter Summaries

Qin Manjiang submitted his university withdrawal application and collected a mysterious package that had been left at school for a month. When he returned home, a strange young man arrived to rent his room after receiving a screenshot of Qin Manjiang’s listing from someone called Doctor.

• Qin Manjiang went to Fucheng University, where the class representative told him the adviser had approved a temporary leave of absence and showed him a package waiting at the men’s dormitory.
• Qin Manjiang collected the unmarked package and submitted his withdrawal application, which the academic affairs office quickly approved.
• Qin Manjiang returned home and found a young man in a white turtleneck waiting to rent the room for eight hundred.
• Qin Manjiang noticed the young man’s rental listing was a screenshot and saw a chat in which Doctor had told him to go there.

Qin Manjiang learned that the package came from his biological father, who had left him a mysterious case connected to the Game. After discovering a note from his mother and hearing that his adoptive parents may have been tied to Lower River Village’s ghost stories, he asked the doctor who his parents were.

• Qin Manjiang called the doctor, who said Lin had been sent to protect him because the case made him a target.
• Qin Manjiang opened the case and read his biological father’s letter about the Game, a hidden secret, and a door he had found but could not open.
• The doctor explained that the case had been entrusted to Qin Manjiang’s father and that opening it had signaled his location to people who might come after it.
• Qin Manjiang tried to return the case, but stopped when the doctor claimed his biological and adoptive parents had been killed and linked his arrival to Lower River Village’s ghost stories.
• Qin Manjiang reopened the case, found a phone and a longevity lock with a note signed Mom, and asked the doctor who his parents were.

Ma Junzhe, Xu Tingfang, and Du Bi'an tried to solve the game’s rules, and Ma Junzhe concluded that the Spirit Players were linked to the human players. In the fifth round, all three voted for a Spirit Player, but the vote failed and Ma Junzhe was killed as the game continued.

• Ma Junzhe, Xu Tingfang, and Du Bi'an forced a tie in the fourth round, leaving two Spirit Players and no clear solution.
• Du Bi'an wondered whether a player could be a ghost without knowing it, while Ma Junzhe reasoned that each Spirit Player was paired with a human player.
• Ma Junzhe used the speaking order and vanished Spirit Players to conclude that the final Spirit Player corresponded to him.
• Ma Junzhe, Xu Tingfang, and Du Bi'an all voted for the Spirit Player in the fifth round.
• The vote failed, and the Vengeful Ghost killed Ma Junzhe as the game continued.

Xu Tingfang realized the elected player became the ghost and had to open his eyes during verification, but he could not explain this to Du Bi'an. Du Bi'an opened his eyes, confirmed the vote was successful, and the two survivors escaped the game.

• Xu Tingfang deduced that the player with the most votes became the ghost and needed to open his eyes to verify the vote.
• During the sixth round, Xu Tingfang told Du Bi'an he had been in the Ghost Story Game for six months, and Du Bi'an said he had let his family down.
• Du Bi'an voted for himself and opened his eyes when the game instructed them to close them.
• Du Bi'an saw the verification prompt and wrote “Successful,” ending the game in victory for the players.
• The game shop returned to daylight, the other players and their bodies were gone, and Du Bi'an and Xu Tingfang embraced, relieved to have survived.

Qin Manjiang rejected Doctor’s attempt to involve him further and focused on earning money, but Zhong Xueran revealed that Yang had linked Abyss to Qin Manjiang in messages from a ghost story. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang suspecting that the vengeful ghost repeating their names might be Li Xijiu.

• Qin Manjiang told Doctor he would handle the inherited items himself, and Lin left after briefly speaking on the phone.
• Qin Manjiang questioned his biological father’s motives but remained determined to investigate whether the strange items were connected to his adoptive parents’ deaths.
• After the players learned that Abyss and Pond Fish had cleared Multiplayer Mode, Qin Manjiang declined invitations to meet and began delivering takeout for money.
• Zhong Xueran told Qin Manjiang that she and others planned to visit the ghost story’s location to look for Yang.
• Zhong Xueran revealed Yang’s messages asking whether Abyss was Qin Manjiang and reporting that a vengeful ghost repeated both names.
• Qin Manjiang suspected the ghost was Li Xijiu.

Qin Manjiang joined Chen Zhiyuan and Zhong Xueran to investigate Yang’s ghost story at the submerged Guanyin Village, hoping to learn about a ghost that might be his friend. The group set out for the village, while the reason the Ghost Story Game kept appearing in Fu City remained unknown.

• Zhong Xueran told Qin Manjiang that Yang’s ghost story was taking place at Guanyin Lake, the site of the village that had drowned twenty years earlier.
• Qin Manjiang met Chen Zhiyuan and Xin Danchen, who planned to send Xin into the game’s domain because she was an ordinary person and could enter.
• Chen Zhiyuan asked Qin Manjiang about the ghost, and Qin wondered whether it could retain memories of its life and be his friend.
• Chen Zhiyuan and Zhong Xueran warned Qin that ghosts were no longer the people they had been before.
• Qin asked why the Ghost Story Game always took place in Fu City, but Chen Zhiyuan said he did not know, and Zhong Xueran speculated that the city might be only the game’s prologue.

Qin Manjiang, Zhong Xueran, and Chen Zhiyuan tried to bring Xin Danchen to Guanyin Lake, but Yang emerged from the water as the Ghost Story Game ended and was attacked by the dead beneath the lake. After the group rescued Yang and escaped, he told Qin Manjiang that the ghost was different and seemed to have something to say to him.

• Qin Manjiang, Zhong Xueran, Chen Zhiyuan, and Xin Danchen arrived at Guanyin Lake to investigate Xin Danchen’s brother’s death.
• The Game ended just as the group prepared to send Xin Danchen onto the lake, and Yang appeared in the water, warning them to leave.
• Chen Zhiyuan paddled toward Yang, but the dinghy would not move, so he jumped into the water and found it filled with corpses and restless spirits.
• Zhong Xueran put Xin Danchen in the SUV while Qin Manjiang threw Yang a rescue rope, and Zhong used the vehicle to pull Yang and then Chen Zhiyuan ashore.
• The group fled Guanyin Lake in the SUV, and Zhong Xueran warned Xin Danchen that they brought misfortune.
• Yang thanked Qin Manjiang and said the ghost was different and seemed to have something to say to him.

Qin Manjiang reunited with his glasses and resolved to uncover his adoptive father's death, cure his sister, and find Li Xijiu. Back at his apartment, he agreed to let a stranded young woman and her little yellow dog stay despite her inability to pay the full rent.

• Yang returned Qin Manjiang's glasses, and Qin asked the group whether they knew the code name Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior.
• Yang refused to discuss Guanyin Village, apparently because its rules prevented him from revealing what had happened there.
• Walking home, Qin reflected on his unnaturally standardized habits and resolved to investigate his adoptive father's death, cure his sister, and find Li Xijiu.
• Qin found a young woman waiting outside his apartment with a suitcase and a dog, and learned that she had lost her phone and wallet.
• Qin let the woman stay despite her having only four hundred yuan, asking only that she stop the dog from licking his ankle.

Qin Manjiang prepared to ask Qin Manyi about Lower River Village before their visit to Sleep Mountain Psychiatric Hospital, but the Ghost Story Game summoned players for two scenarios. He was selected for the challenge-mode Butterfly Island story and received strict instructions to arrive at White Dew Bay the next afternoon, leaving Mi Qiao knocking at the bathroom door.

• Qin Manjiang gathered rumors about Lower River Village ahead of Old Qin's death anniversary and his planned visit with Qin Manyi.
• As Qin Manjiang ate with Mi Qiao, the drowning sensation returned and the Ghost Story Game began.
• The game selected players for My Aging Self, including the Ten Seats' Third Seat-Player, and then activated challenge mode for Butterfly Island with Qin Manjiang as Abyss.
• Qin Manjiang saw Butterfly Island's opening lines and sensed an eerie presence watching him.
• The game ordered Qin Manjiang and the other players to reach White Dew Bay by five the next afternoon and remain on Butterfly Island until they solved its ghost story; Mi Qiao knocked to check on him.

Qin Manjiang prepared to enter the Game, spoke with Zhong Xueran and his sister Qin Manyi, then arrived at White Dew Bay for Butterfly Island. He and Doctor reached the island after the boatman vanished into a swarm of insects.

• Zhong Xueran warned Qin Manjiang that Butterfly Island was dangerous and advised him to stay close to Doctor.
• Qin Manjiang called Qin Manyi, who asked him to visit Sleep Mountain Hospital within a month and told him to be careful.
• Qin Manjiang arrived at White Dew Bay at five o’clock and learned that four people had already gone to Butterfly Island.
• Doctor arrived at the dock, recognized Qin Manjiang, and boarded the boat with him.
• The boatman asked why they were going to Butterfly Island, then rotted away as black insects poured from his face.
• Qin Manjiang and Doctor reached Butterfly Island, where cold wind swept over a field of red flowers.

Qin Manjiang, Yan Xiao, and the others explored Butterfly Island, where a welcoming town concealed the danger of its ghost story. The chapter left them discovering that the inn’s chicken soup was made from a human hand.

• Qin Manjiang met Yan Xiao, who told him that the previous First Seat had died on Butterfly Island and that the island could become an Ultimate Game.
• Qin Manjiang and Yan Xiao reached the town and met Chen Yu, who said the island’s ordinary, friendly residents made it seem like an earthly paradise.
• Chen Yu led Qin Manjiang and Yan Xiao through town, where they found no butterflies or other obvious signs of danger.
• Qin Manjiang and Yan Xiao met Liang Yue, Wang Million, and Swimming Fish at the Butterfly Inn.
• The inn’s proprietress served dinner, and Liang Yue recognized that the supposed chicken in the soup was a human hand.

At the island inn, the travelers discovered that the proprietress perceived a human hand and other disturbing food as ordinary ingredients, suggesting that the islanders’ senses had been altered. Swimming Fish showed Qin Manjiang a drawing of him with a butterfly flying out of his mouth, leaving the meaning of the image unclear.

• Liang Yue recoiled from the chicken soup after seeing a human hand in the pot, while the proprietress drank the soup without noticing anything unusual.
• Yan Xiao confirmed that the pot contained chicken soup by smell, and Qin Manjiang recalled seeing a local carrying an identical pot earlier.
• Chen Yu and Qin Manjiang proposed that the locals’ perceptions, or the senses of everyone on the island, might be distorted.
• The proprietress brought more dishes and insisted that the group eat, while Qin Manjiang urged them to sit down because they had little other food.
• Yan Xiao mentioned the persistent smell of blood on the island, and Swimming Fish showed Qin Manjiang a drawing of a butterfly emerging from his open mouth.

On Butterfly Island, Swimming Fish revealed that her Spirit Medium Sketchbook drew symbolic clues about each game, and Qin Manjiang questioned what his disturbing portrait meant. As Chen Yu studied the Opening Lines and the town’s suspicious chicken soup, she discovered that her reflection had stopped following her movements.

• After Swimming Fish’s drawing made Qin Manjiang feel something crawling in his throat, the group left the chicken soup untouched and arranged their rooms for the night.
• Swimming Fish insisted on sharing a room with Qin Manjiang, and he asked her why she had drawn him.
• Swimming Fish explained that her Permanent Item, the Spirit Medium Sketchbook, could produce three symbolic drawings per game, each hinting at key information.
• Qin Manjiang asked about the Opening Lines while Chen Yu considered their images, the chicken soup, and the fog surrounding the town.
• Chen Yu turned toward the window and noticed that her reflection did not move when she did.

A Vengeful Ghost killed Chen Yu while Liang Yue slept beside her, and the others found her mutilated corpse after following a trail of mist and blood. Yan Xiao turned on Liang Yue, but Qin Manjiang stopped him and asked what had happened before she fell asleep.

• Liang Yue and Chen Yu went to sleep together after joking affectionately in bed.
• Wang Million woke from a dream about Chen Yu being a ghost, while Qin Manjiang smelled blood and noticed mist flowing from Chen Yu and Liang Yue's room.
• Yan Xiao kicked open the room's door, and Liang Yue told the group that Chen Yu was asleep.
• Liang Yue lifted the covers and found Chen Yu's mutilated corpse beside her, then fainted.
• Yan Xiao revived Liang Yue and questioned her, but Qin Manjiang restrained him when he moved toward her with his scalpel.
• Qin Manjiang asked Liang Yue what had happened in the room before she fell asleep.

After Chen Yu’s death, Yan Xiao tried and failed to revive her, then took one of her fingers and left. Qin Manjiang questioned whether Chen Yu had truly been the one killed, while Wang Million realized his dream and arrival order might put him next in danger.

• Yan Xiao stabbed Chen Yu’s corpse with his Permanent Item, discovered her heart was missing, cut off one of her fingers, and left the room.
• Qin Manjiang sent Wang Million, Swimming Fish, and Liang Yue downstairs, then wondered whether Chen Yu had violated a taboo or Liang Yue was the ghost.
• Wang Million told Liang Yue that he had dreamed Chen Yu was eating her intestines in their room.
• Qin Manjiang asked when the four players had arrived on the island, and Swimming Fish said she arrived at four thirty, after Chen Yu was already at the dock.
• Wang Million realized Chen Yu had arrived first and died first, and feared Swimming Fish’s next dream might make him the next victim.

Qin Manjiang and Swimming Fish investigated the clues surrounding the strange deaths and proposed that Butterfly Island existed inside a ghost’s dream. They left the town’s nature unresolved, concluding that everything in the fog might belong to the dream.

• The landlady told Wang Million that only chicken could fill their stomachs and led him and Liang Yue toward the kitchen.
• Qin Manjiang left the guesthouse for a walk, and Swimming Fish followed him with a new interpretation of her drawing.
• Swimming Fish connected the drawing’s butterfly emerging from Qin Manjiang’s mouth to his claim that he did not dream, suggesting dreams were linked to the deaths.
• Qin Manjiang noticed that Butterfly Island had no butterflies and conjectured that the island was a ghost’s dream, which could explain the lack of a time limit.
• Qin Manjiang interpreted the Opening Lines as describing what the dream’s speaker wanted to remember and concluded that everything in the fog was its dream.

Liang Yue followed Wang Million toward the inn's kitchen, where his warning that nobody in town had an aura made her suspect the townspeople were dead. After she chose to keep going and used the Ghost-Pointing Needle, it detected no nearby ghosts, but the proprietress opened the kitchen door to reveal something horrifying.

• Liang Yue considered using her Ghost-Pointing Needle and feared she could not survive after Chen Yu's death.
• Wang Million told Liang Yue that nobody in town, including the proprietress, had an aura, and warned that the kitchen might be dangerous.
• Wang Million admitted he did not want to rely on others to survive, and Liang Yue chose to follow him instead of leaving to find Qin Manjiang and the others.
• Liang Yue activated the Ghost-Pointing Needle, which pointed toward no nearby ghosts.
• The proprietress opened the kitchen door and invited Wang Million and Liang Yue to choose something to eat, revealing something that made them recoil in horror.

Qin Manjiang and Swimming Fish reasoned that the town might be a ghost’s dream and tried to identify its owner. In the kitchen, the proprietress trapped Liang Yue and Wang Million and began preparing a horrific dish from Liang Yue’s split body.

• Swimming Fish suggested killing themselves to escape the dream, but Qin Manjiang warned that they could die for real because the dream belonged to a ghost.
• Qin Manjiang rejected the idea that they needed to relive the ghost’s regrets and said he thought he knew who owned the dream.
• Liang Yue and Wang Million saw the proprietress’s severed head on the chopping board as the Ghost-Pointing Needle pointed toward the proprietress.
• The kitchen door shut, and the proprietress asked what they wanted to eat before ordering them to stand beside the chopping board.
• The proprietress threw half of Liang Yue’s split body onto the chopping board and raised a boning knife to make pork rib soup.

Yezi and the other players faced the eerie task of caring for a woman who claimed to be nineteen, while Shen Hai volunteered as the first caregiver and revealed himself as the Third Seat, Player. In the present, Zhong Xueran discussed Shen Hai’s rise with Liu Jingqing, while Liang Yue and Wang Million faced the proprietress’s moving cleaver.

• At Twilight Apartment, Yezi and five other players learned they had to care for an apparently middle-aged woman who claimed to be nineteen for three nights.
• Shen Hai volunteered to care for the woman first and identified himself as the Third Seat, Player.
• In the hospital, Liu Jingqing asked Zhong Xueran about Shen Hai, and Zhong explained that he had cleared an Ultimate Game and risen to Third Seat.
• Zhong Xueran said Yang thought Shen Hai might become the new First Seat, then left to buy snacks for Liu Jingqing.
• Liu Jingqing thought about Qin and hoped his current game was going smoothly.
• Liang Yue and Wang Million watched in terror as the proprietress began moving her cleaver.

Liang Yue and Wang Million were trapped in the proprietress’s kitchen as she made soup from what appeared to be Liang Yue’s body, while Wang Million suspected the island’s reality was an illusion. Qin Manjiang explained the Mandarin Duck Method to Swimming Fish and entered the fog to find and expose Butterfly Island’s hidden truth, while the proprietress forced Liang Yue and Wang Million to eat the soup.

• Wang Million wondered whether the island’s inhabitants and Liang Yue’s apparent corpse were products of distorted perception.
• Qin Manjiang told Swimming Fish the story of the Mandarin Duck Method and said he would enter the fog to find and expose its crux.
• Swimming Fish tried to follow Qin Manjiang into the fog, but he had disappeared, so she retreated and examined his drawing in the Spirit Medium Sketchbook.
• The proprietress brought Liang Yue and Wang Million a basin of rib soup and ordered them to eat it.
• Liang Yue stepped closer to inspect a familiar mark on the proprietress, which suddenly teleported in front of her.
• Wang Million noticed that the proprietress’s appearance seemed to be changing as he and Liang Yue faced the soup.