Chapter Summaries

During the hide-and-seek game, Xu Youqing realized the Vengeful Ghosts could locate every player and questioned why hiding mattered. After Older Sister found him, he discovered he could move, and Tan Murong had the same experience when Yang Liuye found her.

• Shen Hai suspected that the Ghost Story's instructions to solve the story were hiding something and planned to test his theories through the other players.
• Xu Youqing reasoned that the Vengeful Ghosts could find everyone, then heard Older Sister approach his hiding place in the wardrobe.
• Older Sister opened the wardrobe and reached for Xu Youqing, who realized he could move once the ghost touched him.
• Yang Liuye tore open the kitchen floor and found Tan Murong, who also discovered she could move after being found.

Qin Manjiang realized the players had to identify which ghost was the Candy Ghost and move when that ghost found them, while staying still when found by the Vengeful Ghost. Xu Youqing and Tan Murong both stayed still, but the ghosts switched places, leaving Xu Youqing face-to-face with Yang Liuye.

• Qin Manjiang concluded that hiding was meaningless and that the players’ choice to move or stay still depended on which ghost had found them.
• Qin Manjiang determined that Older Sister was the Candy Ghost and Yang Liuye was the Vengeful Ghost.
• Tan Murong and Xu Youqing both chose to stay still when the countdown ended.
• Yang Liuye placed Tan Murong safely back on the Kitchen Counter, confirming that staying still had protected her from the Vengeful Ghost.
• Older Sister and Yang Liuye switched places, and Qin Manjiang realized that Xu Youqing should have moved after being found by the Candy Ghost.
• Yang Liuye appeared before Xu Youqing in the second-floor bedroom and told him to die with her.

After Xu Youqing’s death ended the second round early, the survivors discussed the game’s rules and Yu Ruoli’s ability to pause it. Shen Hai uncovered the game’s underlying logic and prepared to kill, but Qin Manjiang claimed he had found a path to survival.

• Yang Liuye killed Xu Youqing, and the Horror Girl announced that the second round was over before the others had made their choices.
• The survivors returned beneath the chandelier, where the Horror Girl began the third round, Truth or Dare, and gave them ten minutes to prepare.
• Tan Murong described her encounter with the ghost, and Qin Manjiang explained his deductions about the second round.
• Yu Ruoli revealed that she had paused the game by raising her hand, interpreting a clue in her Spirit Medium Sketchbook.
• Shen Hai used his Faded Memories item to view the game’s past and concluded that it was forcing each round to begin with the required number of players.
• Shen Hai considered killing Qin Manjiang but found his hand resisting; Qin Manjiang confronted him and claimed he had found the path to survival.

Qin Manjiang realized that the chandelier controlled the stages of the Candy Game and shattered it during the transition to prevent the game from restarting. He and the others escaped Blue Bay Villa District, and Qin Manjiang’s phone confirmed that the Ghost Story was cleared.

• Tan Murong decided that she wanted to live, while Qin Manjiang confronted Shen Hai about hiding near Yang Liuye’s Corpse and accused him of affecting the game’s second round.
• Qin Manjiang explained that the Candy Game had hidden commands and that the chandelier marked its stages; Shen Hai recognized it as the game’s switch.
• As the ten-minute pause ended, Qin Manjiang broke the chandelier, disrupting the game’s restart and prompting the group to flee Blue Bay Villas No. 666.
• The ghosts pursued the group through the storm, and Tan Murong and Shen Hai each helped Qin Manjiang keep running while Yu Ruoli led the way.
• The four players escaped Blue Bay Villa District, and Qin Manjiang’s phone displayed that the Candy Game had been cleared.

Qin Manjiang received rewards after clearing the Candy Game and left the Blue Bay Villa District with Tan Murong and Yu Ruoli. He woke in Lin Ci’s bar, where Lin Ci explained how he had been brought there and invited him to talk.

• Qin Manjiang received fifty Spirit Pupil Points, while Player, Swimming Fish, and White Sandalwood received their rewards.
• Shen Hai mocked Qin Manjiang’s weak body before walking away, and Tan Murong helped Qin Manjiang up.
• Yu Ruoli asked whether the ghosts would disappear, and Qin Manjiang considered whether Fu City was an arena enclosed by the Eye Realm.
• Qin Manjiang fell asleep after leaving the Blue Bay Villa District and woke the next day in a staff room at Lin Ci’s bar.
• Lin Ci told Qin Manjiang that Tan Murong had brought him to the bar and that she had gone to work.
• Qin Manjiang checked that his phones and Eye Realm were still there, and Lin Ci asked him to get up so they could talk.

Qin Manjiang learned that Qiao Ziruo and Nie Yunzhen were trapped by the ghosts in [Don't Speak], and Qiao escaped only after Nie sacrificed herself. The game registered as cleared, but Nie then appeared alive outside the building and told Qiao she was fine.

• Qin Manyi told Qin Manjiang that three players had died in [Don't Speak] and that only Qiao Ziruo and Nie Yunzhen remained.
• A Vengeful Ghost pursued Qiao Ziruo and Nie Yunzhen as a giant mouth blocked their path out of the apartment building.
• Nie Yunzhen broke the rule by speaking, causing both ghosts to teleport to her and bite her body in half, while Qiao's escape route cleared.
• Nie Yunzhen's arm briefly resisted the pursuing ghost, giving Qiao time to tumble out of the building and survive.
• Qin Manjiang's phone announced that [Don't Speak] had been cleared, and Nie appeared behind Qin Manyi, telling Qiao Ziruo she was fine.

Qin Manyi and Qiao Ziruo learned that Nie Yunzhen survived the Vengeful Ghost because her Shared-Fate Lock tied her life to Qiao Ziruo. Meanwhile, Qin Manjiang began working at Lin Ci’s bar, Clear Pupil, whose name stirred an unexplained sense of familiarity in him.

• Qiao Ziruo hugged Nie Yunzhen after learning they had cleared the game, and Nie Yunzhen revealed that her Shared-Fate Lock let her survive as long as Qiao Ziruo lived.
• Qin Manjiang realized Nie Yunzhen had likely survived the Person in the Coffin Ghost Story by locking her fate to another player, and he feared that survivor might be watching him.
• Lin Ci offered Qin Manjiang a job at her bar, and he accepted a trial position for four thousand a month with the possibility of a raise.
• Qin Manjiang asked the bar’s name, and Lin Ci told him it was Clear Pupil, a name that sparked a fleeting, familiar feeling in him.

Qin Manjiang moved out to work at the Clear-Eyed Leisure Bar and urged Qin Manyi to return to school, while Mi Qiao left after warning him to stay away from Moon City. A week later, Qin Manjiang left work early to meet the other players at an opera performance, and Lin Ci wondered about his changed personality.

• Qin Manjiang told Qin Manyi he had found work at the Clear-Eyed Leisure Bar and encouraged her to resume school and prepare for the college entrance exam.
• Mi Qiao told Qin Manjiang she was leaving and quietly warned him not to go to Moon City.
• Qin Manjiang worked at the Clear-Eyed Leisure Bar for a week and grew suspicious that Mi Qiao had approached him deliberately.
• Qin Manjiang asked Lin Ci to leave early so he could attend Mei Sijun's opera performance and meet the other players.
• Lin Ci watched Qin Manjiang leave and wondered how his personality had changed so completely.

A fire consumed the Bai family estate, and Bai Yang was presumed dead inside. At the plaza, Qin Manjiang told the Ten Seats that Yang had tried to leave the Ghost Story Game and warned that rising Spirit Pupil Counts made the world and its people appear grotesque, ending with Qin saying he had not changed.

• Yan Lie and Zhou Fan learned that Bai Yang was still inside the burning villa, but explosions made rescue impossible.
• Qin Manjiang arrived at the plaza and learned from Chen Zhiyuan that Yang had not escaped the fire; Yan Xiao confirmed the report through his brother, the fire chief.
• Qin told the group that Yang had pursued Permanent Logout and asked him to help everyone find a new path if he died.
• Qin asked whether the world had changed in the others' eyes, prompting the Ten Seats to recall strange perceptions and changes in how people looked.
• Qin revealed Yang's belief that the world and its inhabitants became increasingly twisted as Spirit Pupil Counts rose, then said that he himself had not changed.

Yan Xiao learned that Yang’s body had been found and sent the others to the General Bureau, where Bai Yang’s sister arrived to identify him. The investigation found no burn marks on Bai Yang’s body, and Captain Zhou Fan asked Qin Manjiang if he was Jiang Du.

• Yan Lie called Yan Xiao to report that Yang’s body had been found and that something about it was strange.
• Chen Zhiyuan and Yang’s three friends went to Bai Yang’s villa, Yu Ruoli and Xinxin left, and Qin Manjiang, Zhong Xueran, Xu Yi, Shen Hai, and Liu Jingqing went to the General Bureau.
• Bai Hongdan arrived at the General Bureau, identified herself as Bai Yang’s younger sister, and brought Qin Manjiang inside to speak with Captain Zhou Fan.
• Zhou Fan said Bai Yang had no burn marks and that the cause of death was still being investigated.
• Zhou Fan stared at Qin Manjiang and asked whether 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 older, while Qin Manjiang suspected the Ghost Story Game was involved. After leaving the dissection room, Qin Manjiang received a new detection on the Eye Realm.

• Xia Nan let Qin Manjiang and Bai Hongdan into the dissection room, where he revealed that the corpse was genetically Bai Yang but its teeth indicated he was about thirty-eight years old.
• Xia Nan told Zhou Fan that the corpse appeared to be Bai Yang from at least ten years in the future and had kept the other staff away from it.
• Bai Hongdan said she had not seen her second brother in three years and doubted he was dead, while Qin Manjiang withheld what he knew about the Ghost Story Game.
• Bai Hongdan recognized Qin Manjiang from a photo and asked whether he had become involved in supernatural trouble.
• Qin Manjiang rushed away when his heart began pounding, opened the Eye Realm, and saw a detection notice for an unidentified ghost story.

Qin Manjiang tried to stop Xia Nan from opening an unfamiliar phone link, but Xia Nan accepted the Eye Realm’s recruitment and began a personal game. Qin Manjiang realized that Xia Nan and Qiao Ziruo might belong to his Eye Realm rather than the Ghost Story Game, and wondered whether he could recruit 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 an unfamiliar link on his phone.
• Qin Manjiang told Xia Nan that the link could subject him to something like Yang’s case, and Xia Nan explained why he believed supernatural forces existed.
• Xia Nan opened the recruitment message, chose Forensic Doctor as his code name, and received a personal game about his body slipping out of his control.
• Xia Nan asked whether the hidden world was called Eye Realm, and Qin Manjiang saw those words on Xia Nan’s phone.
• Qin Manjiang told Xia Nan to save his number and contact him after speaking with Zhou Fan, then wondered whether he could take players from the Ghost Story Game and assign them more reasonable tasks.

Xia Nan’s body began acting on its own and his senses failed while he argued with Officer Zhou Fan over Bai Yang’s autopsy report. As Xia Nan fled the Dissection Room, his injuries worsened, and Zhou Fan was reminded of something Jiang Du had told him twenty years earlier.

• Qin Manjiang wondered whether the thirty-eight-year-old Yang was connected to the [Reverse-Time Hourglass] and thought about his ties to people from Moon City.
• Xia Nan refused Zhou Fan’s demand to rewrite the autopsy report as a normal fire-charred corpse.
• Xia Nan’s finger twitched without his control, and his leg kicked Zhou Fan before he realized what had happened.
• Cuts appeared on Xia Nan’s face and arm, and he discovered that his body and senses were no longer under his control.
• Xia Nan left the Dissection Room and warned Zhou Fan not to let anyone touch Bai Yang’s body, while more cuts appeared across him.
• Zhou Fan recalled a conversation with Jiang Du about trusting one’s own heart when questioning whether the world was real.

Xia Nan’s body began violently slipping out of his control as he and Qin Manjiang tried to reach Cityheart Lake. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang escaping Xia Nan’s strangling grip, only for all ten of Xia Nan’s fingers to break backward.

• Qin Manjiang analyzed the [Out of Control] Ghost Story and realized it had no geographical boundaries, while Xia Nan described how his skin had split open and his limbs had begun moving uncontrollably.
• Qin Manjiang drove Xia Nan toward Cityheart Lake, and Xia Nan observed that his wounds looked like cuts from something invisible and sharp.
• Xia Nan’s hands suddenly clamped around Qin Manjiang’s neck, and Qin Manjiang escaped by reclining the car seat and pinning Xia Nan’s arms with his legs.
• Xia Nan’s fingers bent backward and broke, leaving Qin Manjiang wondering what was causing his body to go out of control.

Xia Nan and Qin Manjiang investigated the cause of Xia Nan’s involuntary movements and discovered invisible hair controlling his limbs inside the car. They left the enclosed space, but Qin Manjiang’s reminder about the warning that Xia Nan’s neck would twist left them fearing another danger.

• Qin Manjiang helped the injured Xia Nan back to the car so they could test whether an internal or external force was controlling his body.
• Inside the car, Xia Nan’s left leg rose unnaturally, and Qin Manjiang pulled him out before the movement could worsen.
• Xia Nan saw dense, living black hair wrapped around his leg in the rearview mirror, then watched it vanish when he left the car.
• Qin Manjiang and Xia Nan concluded that invisible hair in an enclosed space was controlling Xia Nan’s limbs, and Xia Nan said he needed to keep moving.
• Qin Manjiang recalled that Xia Nan’s Opening Lines also warned of his neck twisting, leaving them uncertain when that danger would strike.

Xu Yi and the others met Bai Hongdan to learn that Bai Yang’s body was decades older than it should have been, while Qin Manjiang had left with an injured forensic doctor. The chapter ended with Qin Manjiang and Xia Nan at Cityheart Lake, aware that their bodies were acting without their control but unsure how to stop it.

• Zhong Xueran tried to enter the General Bureau, but Xu Yi stopped her 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 said the body found at the fire scene was Bai Yang’s but appeared to be at least thirty-eight years old.
• Bai Hongdan told them that Qin Manjiang had left for the garage with an injured forensic doctor, prompting Shen Hai and Xu Yi to depart.
• Bai Hongdan asked Zhong Xueran and Liu Jingqing to tell her something about Bai Yang.
• At Cityheart Lake, Qin Manjiang and Xia Nan discussed how their bodies were moving without their control, and Qin Manjiang said he understood the feeling.

Xia Nan suspected that the Ghost Story was tricking him into constantly moving and decided to stay still long enough to discover what happened next. Qin Manjiang warned him that the hair must have a source, leaving Xia Nan to face the risk alone.

• Xia Nan told Qin Manjiang that the hair appeared after he stayed in one place for three minutes and that the escalating loss of control might be bait.
• Xia Nan theorized that the Vengeful Ghost was using fear to make players keep moving, hiding a deadly later stage involving his neck.
• Xia Nan decided to remain in one place for three minutes to expose the true Path to Survival, while Qin Manjiang moved away to watch from a distance.
• Qin Manjiang reminded Xia Nan that the hair had to grow from a source and urged him to be careful.
• Xia Nan put aside his suspicions about Qin Manjiang and told him he did not blame him for what might happen.

Xia Nan discovered and destroyed the red comb that was producing the hair attacking him, clearing the [Loss of Control] Ghost Story. The game then locked, announced its preliminaries had ended, and activated Infinite Mode, pulling all players away from the real world.

• Outside the café, Shen Hai questioned Xu Yi about helping Qin Manjiang, but Xu Yi denied knowing anything, so Shen Hai abandoned his pursuit while Xu Yi continued following him.
• At Cityheart Lake, Xia Nan used a mirror to watch his body and dodged his right hand when it tried to strangle him.
• Xia Nan saw living black hair appear in the mirror and discovered it was growing from a red comb suspended behind his back.
• As the hair crushed his legs, Xia Nan slammed his back against the sink and broke the comb, freeing himself from its attack.
• The Ghost Story Game announced that [Forensic Doctor] had cleared [Loss of Control], locked the game, began calculating Spirit Pupil, and activated Infinite Mode.
• The game declared the preliminaries over and pulled all players’ consciousnesses from the real world.

The forty-nine surviving players were summoned to the Eye Realm, where Nie Yunzhen announced that Yang was dead and revealed the higher-dimensional being behind the Ghost Story Game. She explained that the players must light all ten Spirit Pupil Dark Spots to survive, then defined Infinite Mode as allowing each ghost story to connect to Infinite Hell and become an Ultimate Game.

• The surviving players arrived in the Eye Realm, where Shen Hai recognized Qin Manjiang as the new player Forensic Doctor and suspected he could enter the game by other means.
• Nie Yunzhen appeared transformed and announced that she was the current First Seat and that the previous First Seat, Mr. Yang, was dead.
• Nie Yunzhen told the players that the Eye Realm was the true Ghost Story Game and that a higher-dimensional existence had created it.
• Nie Yunzhen pointed out ten Spirit Pupil Dark Spots representing Ultimate Games, said two were lit through Shen Hai and Yellow Springs Opera, and urged the players to light the remaining spots.
• A female player asked Nie Yunzhen 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.

The Eye Realm began the Ping'an Hospital ghost story and selected six players, including Qin Manjiang, Wen Liangsheng, Chen Zhiyuan, and Xinxin. After the six were covered in blood and drawn into the third Spirit Pupil, all the players returned to the real world as the game began.

• The third Spirit Pupil revealed Ping'an Hospital as the next ghost story, with a seven-day time limit but no listed requirements or start time.
• The eyes selected Wen Liangsheng, Chen Zhiyuan, Xinxin, Li Daiping, and Jian Cunxin, displaying their names above them.
• The enormous spiral pupil singled out Qin Manjiang, who realized it had watched him in earlier games as well.
• Blood covered the six selected players and was absorbed into the third Spirit Pupil.
• The players returned to the real world, and a voice announced that Ping'an Hospital had begun.