Chapter Summaries

Qin Manjiang’s Relic Phone detected Tang Baihe as a Spirit Pupil owner and warned that a Ghost Story was forming around her. Tang Baihe was pursued through her apartment building’s stairwell and texted Qin Manjiang for help, leaving her still climbing as he received the message.

• Qin Manjiang saw the Relic Phone identify Tang Baihe as a Spirit Pupil owner and detect a forming Ghost Story.
• Tang Baihe reached her apartment building, questioned whether Qin Manjiang had set up the events at work, and chose the stairs over the elevator.
• Tang Baihe heard footsteps following her up the dim stairwell and hurried toward the upper floors without looking back.
• Tang Baihe texted Qin Manjiang, “Stairs. Save me!” and continued climbing, hoping he would come to help.

Tang Baihe escaped a Vengeful Ghost by drawing two residents into the hallway, but became trapped in a malfunctioning elevator. The elevator carried her toward the ninth floor and cut her in half, leaving Qin Manjiang to find part of her corpse.

• Tang Baihe realized the ghosts appeared only when she or Qin Manjiang was alone and pounded on apartment doors to bring residents out.
• Two residents opened their doors, causing the Vengeful Ghost's reaching arm to disappear, and Tang Baihe told them a criminal had chased her.
• The residents escorted Tang Baihe to the elevator, then stepped out to close their apartment doors as the elevator doors slammed shut.
• Tang Baihe found the elevator descending with flickering blood-red lights, failed to reach Qin Manjiang by phone, and saw the doors open between the first and second floors.
• The elevator doors closed as the ninth-floor button lit up, and the elevator split Tang Baihe's blood-drenched body in half.
• 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’s Pupil Realm took control of his body and created a new Ghost Story Game, recruiting Qiao Ziruo. At Fucheng University, Qiao Ziruo activated the game on her phone and received the beginner story “Lost Item.”

• Qin Manjiang found Tang Baihe dead and blamed himself for not taking the ghost story seriously.
• Qin Manjiang lost control of his body as the Pupil Realm formed a new ghost story and recruited Qiao Ziruo as a player.
• Qin Manjiang recognized Qiao Ziruo as his former class monitor and feared she would be drawn into the game.
• At Fucheng University, Qiao Ziruo discovered a strange app on her phone and entered the code name Ziru.
• The app activated Personal Mode and introduced the “Lost Item” ghost story set in Baihong Building.

Qin Manjiang realized that his body was acting independently and might belong to Jiang Du, while he was a separate consciousness born within it. After learning that Qiao Ziruo had entered the Ghost Story Game, he promised to meet her the next morning and resolved not to surrender his identity; meanwhile, a man in a laboratory told Lin to help watch over him.

• Qin Manjiang saw that residents could not perceive Tang Baihe’s corpse and left the apartment building without being implicated.
• Qin Manjiang called Qiao Ziruo to warn her not to open the strange app, but she had already accepted a mission to reach Baihong Building by six the next evening.
• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo to rest and promised to wait for her at the school gates the next morning.
• Qin Manjiang suspected Jiang Du was the original owner of his body and vowed to hold on to his own sensations and identity.
• A man in a white coat told Lin that Qin Manjiang’s body had activated and instructed him to help monitor Qin Manjiang.

After Nie Yunzhen left Qin Manjiang a cryptic farewell note, Qin Manjiang confronted the possibility that Jiang Du was taking over his body and dreamed of another version of himself crawling from his throat. He woke to find he could speak and move freely, then realized the date and time had reset to September 29 at 8:54 a.m.

• Qin Manjiang returned home and found Nie Yunzhen gone, leaving a note that said she was still alive to finish one thing and told him to keep living.
• Mi Qiao told Qin Manjiang that Nie Yunzhen had left about two hours earlier, shortly after Doctor Xi called him.
• Qin Manjiang questioned whether Jiang Du was taking control of him, and in a horrifying dream, an identical person crawled out through his throat and declared, "I am you."
• Qin Manjiang woke in bed and realized he could say his thoughts aloud and control his body without the usual restrictions.
• Qin Manjiang checked his phone and discovered that the date had reset to September 29 and the time was 8:54 a.m.

Qin Manjiang woke with unusual freedom from the bodily restrictions that had shaped his life and suspected the previous day’s Ghost Story Game had changed something. He met Qiao Ziruo at Fucheng University, told her she could not escape the game, and promised to take responsibility for her.

• Qin Manjiang realized he had awakened before his usual seven thirty and could control his body without interference.
• Qin Manjiang linked the change to his body independently creating a Ghost Story Game and drawing Qiao Ziruo into it the previous day.
• Qin Manjiang left home, reflected on his sense of self and his friends Li Xijiu and Xu Yi, and made finding Li Xijiu a priority if his freedom lasted.
• Qiao Ziruo skipped class, worried that the game had forced Qin Manjiang to abandon his normal life, and went to meet him at Fucheng University.
• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo she could not escape the game but promised to take responsibility.

Qin Manjiang explained the Ghost Story Game to Qiao Ziruo and helped her analyze the clues for her Baihong Building level. They researched the building and arrived before the game began, where Qin Manjiang told her not to enter early.

• Qin Manjiang met Qiao Ziruo at the university gate and told her that ghosts and the Ghost Story Game were real.
• Qin Manjiang explained Qiao Ziruo's Baihong Building opening lines and suggested the ghost might not be able to harm her in front of other people.
• Qin Manjiang and Qiao Ziruo searched for reports about Baihong Building and learned it belonged to the Bai family and had been leased to various businesses.
• Qin Manjiang and Qiao Ziruo arrived at Baihong Building, where Qiao Ziruo felt watched and Qin Manjiang admitted he had been staring at her.
• Qin Manjiang refused to enter the building before the game started and asked Qiao Ziruo if she was hungry.

Qiao Ziruo entered Baihong Building to investigate the Ghost Story, while Qin Manjiang was blocked by a blood-red barrier and could only stay outside. When an elevator stopped at the apparently vacant ninth floor, its doors opened onto a wall of red and white bricks and stone.

• Qiao Ziruo and Qin Manjiang approached Baihong Building, but a blood-red boundary threw Qin Manjiang outside as the Game began.
• Qiao Ziruo waited by the elevators and decided to visit the twenty-seventh floor before the more dangerous ninth floor.
• A security guard helped Qiao Ziruo enter an elevator, where she spotted a blood-red fingerprint on the ninth-floor button.
• The elevator stopped at the ninth floor despite no one having pressed its button, and the doors opened onto a red-and-white brick wall.

Qiao Ziruo and the security guard escaped the stalled elevator onto the unfinished Ninth Floor after she realized the voice on the radio was not his colleague. Though the guard urged her to flee down the stairs, Qiao Ziruo stayed behind, convinced she could not leave yet.

• Qiao Ziruo smashed the security guard’s radio after noticing its indicator light had gone dark when a strange voice spoke through it.
• Qiao Ziruo reasoned that the ghost knew she had arrived but could not locate her, and feared it would find her if she stayed trapped in the elevator.
• Qiao Ziruo suggested breaking through the brick wall behind the elevator doors, and the security guard kicked it down after wedging the doors open with his baton.
• Qiao Ziruo and the security guard stepped onto the dark, unfinished Ninth Floor, where the guard switched on his flashlight and hurried toward the stairwell.
• The security guard called for Qiao Ziruo to follow him, but she told him to go ahead because she could not leave.

Qin Manjiang waited outside Baihong Building for news from Qiao Ziruo, while she searched the dark Ninth Floor for clues about the ghost. After the ghost entered the floor, Qiao Ziruo hid behind a pillar, and its footsteps stopped just beyond it.

• Qin Manjiang worried that Qiao Ziruo was in danger and wondered whether the repeated connections between people around him and the Ghost Story Game were more than coincidence.
• Qiao Ziruo searched the unrenovated Ninth Floor and reasoned that discovering the ghost’s identity might reveal what it was looking for.
• Qiao Ziruo heard footsteps and something being dragged approach from the fire escape, then realized the ghost could see that the elevator was on the Ninth Floor.
• Qiao Ziruo decided she could not safely flee through the pitch-dark, uneven floor and hid behind a load-bearing pillar.
• The ghost’s footsteps and dragging sounds stopped on the other side of the pillar from Qiao Ziruo.

Qiao Ziruo tried to evade a vengeful ghost by moving around a pillar in sync with its footsteps, but she realized her shadow had exposed her. She discovered the ghost’s head and spine dragged behind its moving legs, and ended the chapter wondering when it had spotted her and why it had not attacked.

• Qiao Ziruo hid behind a load-bearing pillar and listened as the vengeful ghost approached.
• Qiao Ziruo circled the pillar in time with the ghost’s footsteps, concealing the sounds of her movement.
• Qiao Ziruo stopped when the ghost’s footsteps paused, then realized her moonlit shadow had revealed her position.
• Qiao Ziruo turned and saw a bloody head attached to a spine lying by her heels, and understood that the ghost’s head dragged behind its legs.

Qiao Ziruo was cornered by the Vengeful Ghost on the Ninth Floor until Qin Manjiang used a helicopter’s light to expose its weakness and give her a chance to escape. She fled to return later, while Qin Manjiang and Bai Yang watched from outside and discussed the Ghost Story Game’s system upgrade.

• Qiao Ziruo froze in terror when she saw the Vengeful Ghost’s severed head and realized it was approaching her.
• Qin Manjiang shone a helicopter light onto the Ninth Floor and shouted that the ghost’s light-dark perception was opposite to a human’s.
• Qiao Ziruo regained her will to survive and ran toward the fire escape, choosing to return later rather than abandon her objective.
• Bai Yang told Qin Manjiang it was time to head down after the helicopter kept its light trained on the floor.
• Qin Manjiang explained to Bai Yang that the Ghost Story Game was undergoing a month-long system upgrade and that he had accidentally triggered a side story.

Qiao Ziruo searched the building’s surveillance footage to identify the ghost pursuing her while Qin Manjiang questioned Yang about his past and apparent condition. The chapter left Qiao Ziruo watching footage with Lao Zhang as danger closed in.

• Yang told Qin Manjiang that the Ten Seats had appeared after he entered the Ghost Story Game and asked where the previous players had gone.
• Qin Manjiang told Yang he had driven another personality out of his body, and Yang said he preferred his changed personality.
• Qin Manjiang asked Yang if he was about to die.
• Qiao Ziruo returned to the first floor, reasoned that the cameras might capture the ghost, and asked to inspect footage from every hallway.
• The young guard warned Lao Zhang to be careful before leaving, and Lao Zhang began pulling up the surveillance recordings for Qiao Ziruo.

Qiao Ziruo found the Vengeful Ghost on the surveillance footage, then faced it in the security room after it followed her there. The ghost killed the old security guard, and Qiao Ziruo realized it might be an elevator maintenance worker searching for its missing upper body before wondering why it had not attacked her earlier.

• Qiao Ziruo searched the building’s surveillance footage and spotted the half-bodied Vengeful Ghost on the twenty-seventh floor.
• The ghost followed Qiao Ziruo to the security room, where the old security guard’s voice alerted it to their presence.
• Qiao Ziruo found a high-intensity flashlight, but the old security guard struck her with his baton and took it.
• The ghost entered when the guard pointed the flashlight at the doorway and caused him to strangle himself to death.
• Qiao Ziruo recognized the ghost’s trousers as an elevator technician’s work clothes and suspected its missing upper body was in the elevator shaft.
• As the ghost reached toward her, Qiao Ziruo realized it had seen her before without attacking and wondered whether it had been confirming her identity.

Qiao Ziruo realized the Vengeful Ghost might only attack after seeing her face and stood with her back to it, leaving her survival uncertain. Yang told Qin Manjiang he intended to pursue a chance to escape the Ghost Story Game and asked him to find another path if Yang died.

• Qiao Ziruo inferred that the Vengeful Ghost could not identify its upper body without seeing her face, so she turned her back to it and held still.
• The Old Security Guard died from suffocation while Qiao Ziruo waited, unwilling to risk covering her face and testing her theory.
• Qin Manjiang deduced that Yang planned to use accumulated Spirit Pupils to unlock a chance to leave the Ghost Story Game permanently.
• Yang explained that he wanted to give others hope, following the example of a woman who had inspired him before her death.
• Yang told Qin Manjiang he would take the chance to escape the game, and asked Qin Manjiang to help everyone find another path if he died.

Yang revealed that spirit pupils were human eyes capable of seeing ghosts and showed Qin Manjiang the horrifying world he saw through his own. As Yang questioned which world was real, Qin Manjiang discovered that the Ghost Story: Lost Item had been cleared.

• Yang asked Qin Manjiang what he thought spirit pupils were, and Qin Manjiang guessed they were human eyes.
• Yang confirmed that spirit pupils were human eyes that could see ghosts and explained that players gained more as they cleared games.
• Yang touched Qin Manjiang's shoulder, letting him briefly see Fu City as a grotesque, ruined place beneath an enormous eyeball.
• Yang said that too many spirit pupils made players lose their sense of whether they were living people or ghosts, and wondered which version of the world was real.
• Qin Manjiang snapped Yang out of his daze and urged him not to rush toward death.
• Qin Manjiang opened [Eye Realm] and saw that Ghost Story: Lost Item had been cleared.

After Qiao Ziruo escaped the Baihong Building, Qin Manjiang discovered that his Spirit Pupil Points as a Proxy and as Abyss were combined. He brought the unconscious Qiao Ziruo home, while Mi Qiao watched her with an unreadable expression, and Qin Manjiang reflected on the Ghost Story Game’s purpose in collecting Spirit Pupil Points.

• Yang disappeared from the square, leaving his Small Helicopter behind, and Qin Manjiang caught Qiao Ziruo when she collapsed.
• Qin Manjiang carried the unconscious, feverish Qiao Ziruo to his home after finding that Yang was gone.
• Mi Qiao let Qin Manjiang inside and agreed to help care for Qiao Ziruo while he went to shower.
• Mi Qiao’s amusement faded as she stared expressionlessly at Qiao Ziruo on the sofa.
• Qin Manjiang recalled Yang’s explanation that Spirit Pupil Points let people perceive anomalies and wondered what the world would look like to someone holding every player’s points.

Zhong Xueran experienced vivid nested dreams in which the world’s colors changed and her face rotted, then wondered whether she was finally awake after checking her phone and calling Xu Yi. Elsewhere, Qin Manjiang redeemed a Permanent Item after collecting a hundred Spirit Pupils, while Xu Yi realized Zhong Xueran had begun seeing something too.

• Zhong Xueran dreamed that a red sky, black clouds, and motionless, malicious people surrounded her, then woke and recognized the experience as unusually vivid.
• Zhong Xueran found a call record from the future and saw her rotting reflection before waking again to discover it had all been a nested dream.
• Zhong Xueran called Xu Yi to confirm whether he had noticed changes in his vision, and Xu Yi joked with her before privately wondering if she had started seeing it too.
• Qin Manjiang used [Eye Realm] to redeem a Permanent Item after accumulating a hundred Spirit Pupils.
• Qin Manjiang noticed Mi Qiao was awake before him again, then pressed the Yes button to claim his personalized Permanent Item.

Qin Manjiang endured a painful transformation to obtain his Permanent Item, a doll that could permanently eliminate one ability of a Vengeful Ghost at a steep emotional cost. After learning the risks, he decided to avoid using it unless necessary and wondered what price Yang paid for his own item.

• Qin Manjiang exchanged points for a Permanent Item and was overwhelmed by eerie sensations, pain, and a flood of negative emotions before passing out.
• Qin Manjiang woke at noon and found a small doll resembling himself in his hand.
• Qin Manjiang checked [Eye Realm] and learned that the doll could eliminate one identified ability of a Vengeful Ghost once per game by sacrificing one of his positive emotions.
• Qin Manjiang learned that a failed attempt would permanently give him one of the Vengeful Ghost's negative emotions, so he put the doll away and resolved not to use it lightly.
• Qin Manjiang recalled Yang using a Permanent Item to rewind a scene by five seconds and wondered what its cost was.

Qin Manyi recalled her childhood in Lower River Village, her unusual brother Qin Manjiang, and the strange figures only she could see. Qin Manjiang visited her in the hospital and told her she was being discharged, leaving her surprised by his confidence that the doctor would not decide her fate.

• Qin Manyi remembered growing up with Qin Manjiang, whose emotionless behavior made others think he was a robot, though she sensed he had hidden feelings.
• Qin Manyi recalled how she alone saw strange, distorted figures around Lower River Village, while her family and neighbors saw nothing.
• Qin Manjiang read Qin Manyi's diary until she caught him, then asked about her mental assessment at the hospital.
• Qin Manjiang explained that he had spent the past week recovering after redeeming the Permanent Item called "Me," while the Class Monitor had left after apparently realizing his role in her involvement with the abnormal.
• Qin Manjiang told Qin Manyi to prepare for immediate discharge, and she asked whether it was temporary or permanent.