Chapter Summaries

At Chen Qiu’s murder scene, Qin Manjiang learned that Moon City’s [Eye Realm] had reached its final stage and might be following a deadly third path. After Kong warned him that a ghost was nearby, Qin Manjiang spotted a tall, thin figure leaving the crowd.

• Fang Xiu suspected Qin Manjiang might be connected to the [Eye Realm] and feared Chen Qiu’s identity had been exposed, while Wang Pingchang urged him to focus on processing the murder scene.
• Kong told Qin Manjiang that Moon City’s [Eye Realm] had already locked in forty-nine players, preventing him from easily replacing one.
• Kong explained that players could either follow the usual route and light ten Spirit Pupils, allowing most players to return to reality, or collect 999 Spirit Pupils, which would erase everyone except the Ten Seats and grant the collector another life as a servant.
• Kong warned that Flower had sensed a ghost near the murder scene and suspected Moon City had forged a third path: merging with a Permanent Item to become a ghost story and hunt the other players until ten remained.
• Qin Manjiang noticed someone watching him, then saw a tall, thin figure leave the crowd as the Doll cried, “Blood!”

Kong sent Dog to protect Qin Manjiang as Qin’s growing instability and Jiang Du’s influence alarmed him. While the police investigated Chen Qiu’s murder, Captain Wang Pingchang recognized Qin as the vanished Jiang Du and grew afraid that Fang Xiu was in danger.

• Kong told Dog that Jiang Du might be becoming part of Qin Manjiang’s personality and ordered Dog to take Flower’s place protecting Qin.
• Fang Xiu told the task force that Chen Qiu had few known conflicts, then urged them to investigate her movements before her murder.
• Wang Pingchang assigned Fang Xiu to investigate Chen Qiu’s recent activities and asked him to take Qin Manjiang with him when he left.
• Wang Pingchang searched for people resembling Qin and found a record for Jiang Du, a professor who had vanished twenty years earlier.
• Wang Pingchang realized Qin looked exactly like Jiang Du and called Fang Xiu, but Fang rejected the call, leaving Wang fearing something had happened.

Yan Xiao connected Doctor to the ghost story that trapped Mei Sijun and Qiao Ziruo, while Qin Manjiang confronted Fang Xiu in Moon City with a story exposing the Hunters’ past and their secret war. The chapter ended with Fang Xiu panicking as Qin Manjiang implied that a conspicuously placed corpse had been meant as a message.

• The Old Taoist awakened in Qiao Ziruo’s courtyard and warned Nie Yunzhen that Mei Sijun and Qiao Ziruo had become wandering souls in a deliberately created ghost story.
• Zhong Xueran recognized the Old Taoist as a priest from Wild Fox Temple, and he said Qin Manjiang could store the trapped pair’s bodies with the Eye Realm Key.
• Shen Hai criticized Nie Yunzhen, while Chen Zhiyuan noticed that Yan Xiao had disappeared from the courtyard.
• Yan Xiao called Doctor, who admitted that he had experimented with creating a ghost story using a dead spirit pupil, and Yan Xiao hung up after confirming his suspicion.
• Yan Xiao considered Doctor’s secrets and his agreement with Qin Manjiang to connect Fu City and Moon City.
• In Moon City, Qin Manjiang described the Hunters’ game and its hidden history to Fang Xiu, who grew pale and shouted for him to stop.

Qin Manjiang questioned Fang Xiu about the Moon City Eye Realm’s shift into hunting mode and helped him realize that the players using merged Permanent Items might be bound by hidden rules. Fang Xiu began to see that those rules could offer the hunted players a chance to survive or fight back.

• Qin Manjiang encouraged Fang Xiu to explain what had happened in the Moon City Eye Realm.
• Fang Xiu said the Eye Realm had locked down at forty-nine players before a strange player submerged all ten spirit pupil dark spots in foul blood, triggering hunting mode.
• Fang Xiu explained that fifteen players had merged their Permanent Items into their bodies and were hunting the others, while his mutual aid group had been hiding after other groups suffered heavy losses.
• Qin Manjiang asked why the hunters used eerie powers instead of ordinary methods, leading Fang Xiu to suspect that the new game rules forced them to do so.
• Fang Xiu realized that the hunters’ powers might have rules and exploitable weaknesses, leaving open a chance for the hunted players to survive or turn the tables.

Qin Manjiang warned Fang Xiu that the killer had likely identified him and the other players, but Fang Xiu had already called Yan Yaoling to relocate her. When he reached her new apartment, Yan Yaoling woke to find the room encased in sharp ice and herself trapped.

• Fang Xiu realized the Hunters' abilities could be turned against them and asked Qin Manjiang if he had escaped the Eye Realm before.
• Qin Manjiang warned that the killer had likely identified Fang Xiu after Chen Qiu's death, and learned that Fang Xiu had revealed another player's new address over the phone.
• Fang Xiu tried to warn Yan Yaoling to move again, but her phone was switched off, so he drove toward her apartment with Qin Manjiang.
• Yan Yaoling woke in the cold, found ice covering the room, and discovered sharp ice spikes across the floor as she tried to escape.

Fang Xiu drove Qin Manjiang through Moon City as Qin Manjiang sought information about his missing sister, Qin Manyi, and tried to learn about the players hunting others. He learned that the mysterious Second Seat was Lian Yan, the man who had escaped from Ping'an Hospital, and Fang Xiu brought him to Yan Yaoling’s building.

• Qin Manjiang reflected on how his dwindling positive emotions were holding back his inhuman urge to eat people.
• Qin Manjiang asked Fang Xiu whether he knew Qin Manyi, and Fang Xiu said he did not.
• Qin Manjiang suspected that Qin Manyi might be the pursuer codenamed Evening Primrose and decided to learn the code names of the fifteen hunters.
• Qin Manjiang asked Fang Xiu about the mysterious player whose tainted blood had changed the Eye Realm.
• Fang Xiu identified the player as Lian Yan, and Qin Manjiang recognized him as the man who had escaped from Ping'an Hospital.
• Fang Xiu stopped outside Yan Yaoling’s building and told Qin Manjiang they had arrived.

Qin Manjiang investigated Yan Yaoling’s supernatural murder with Fang Xiu and deduced that the killer could turn into ice and had escaped through the air conditioner’s dry drain hose. As the instance began, Qin Manjiang left Fang Xiu with instructions to investigate Mi Qiao from Moon City.

• Fang Xiu and Qin Manjiang entered Yan Yaoling’s apartment and found her dismembered, frozen corpse amid icicles.
• Fang Xiu blamed himself for Yan Yaoling’s death and vowed to find the killer, but Qin Manjiang urged him to focus on the evidence and his own safety.
• Qin Manjiang and Fang Xiu determined that Yan Yaoling had been killed instantly, and Fang Xiu noticed that the blood had been diluted with water.
• Qin Manjiang deduced that the killer could turn into ice and had likely escaped through the air conditioner’s drain hose, which was unusually dry.
• Qin Manjiang left and asked Fang Xiu to investigate Mi Qiao from Moon City as the instance began.

Qin Manjiang struggled against the Fu City Eye Realm’s summons while the players gathered there were pulled into a new game, Sick Village. The selection ended with the unexplained arrival of a masked man whose name appeared as Professor.

• Qin Manjiang told Kong that he could still feel the Fu City Eye Realm summoning him, and Kong said Dog would reach him in three minutes.
• Qin Manjiang fought to resist the summons in Moon City as water in the sink began flowing strangely.
• The Eye Realm summoned the players and announced the new ghost story Sick Village, with a three-day time limit.
• Du Bi'an, Xu Tingfang, Yu Ruoli, Luo Chengyou, and Shen Hai were selected for the game.
• A masked man appeared in the Eye Realm with garbled text above his head, which settled into the name Professor.

Qin Manjiang used Snake’s [Hypocrisy] mask to block his emotions before the [Eye Realm] summoned him to a new ghost story. He entered Sick Village under the code name Professor alongside five other players, and the group was scattered upon arrival.

• Dog gave Qin Manjiang Snake’s [Hypocrisy] mask and explained that it blocked emotions inside ghost stories but could not be kept.
• Qin Manjiang put on the mask and was summoned into Fu City’s [Eye Realm] under the code name Professor, leaving the others unsure of his identity.
• The selected players were Du Bi'an, Xu Tingfang, Yu Ruoli, Luo Chengyou, Player, and Professor.
• The [Eye Realm] announced a three-day trip to Sick Village and warned visitors to follow its rules.
• The six players arrived amid miasma, were scattered at random, and heard the ghost story Sick Village begin.

Xu Tingfang and Yu Ruoli found separate Travelers’ Guides in Sick Village, each listing eerie rules for a different facility. Xu Tingfang approached the Library while trying to obey its rules, and Yu Ruoli stood before the Medical Station’s open entrance with the Sketchbook.

• Xu Tingfang found a sign directing travelers to the Sick Village Library and warning them to follow its rules.
• Xu Tingfang noticed dirt and grass on his shoes and saw a blurry shape approaching through the fog.
• Xu Tingfang ran toward the Library, then stopped when he remembered the rule against making noise or roughhousing.
• Xu Tingfang continued toward the Library cautiously as red lights flashed in the fog beside him.
• Yu Ruoli found a Travelers’ Guide for the Medical Station that warned of patients and listed strict rules.
• Yu Ruoli saw that the Medical Station’s main entrance stood ajar.

Yu Ruoli deciphered the Medical Station’s rules and entered the building, while Shen Hai analyzed the Supermarket’s rules and prepared for its dangers. The chapter left both players beginning to explore their separate regions, with Shen Hai believing he had spotted a trap and a way around it.

• Yu Ruoli concluded that the Medical Station was dangerous, identified disinfection and locking the exit as possible paths to survival, and suspected the granular matter resembled frog eggs.
• Yu Ruoli realized she had nearly broken the rule against staying in one place for too long and inferred that she had to move more than a meter within three minutes.
• Yu Ruoli entered the Medical Station, where the smell of medicinal solution filled her nose.
• Shen Hai read the Supermarket rules and found that his Pocket Watch’s [Faded Memories] could not show him its past.
• Shen Hai reasoned that he would need to buy one item and pay in person, anticipated a conflict with a customer, and concluded that his rules contained a trap he could deal with.

Qin Manjiang entered Sick Village Nursing Home and studied its rules, while Du Bi'an was sent to the extremely dangerous Public Toilet and prepared to follow its instructions. The chapter left Qin Manjiang startled by the elderly figure waiting in the courtyard and Du Bi'an entering the restroom.

• Qin Manjiang read the Nursing Home rules and inferred that he needed to complete a tour before leaving its area.
• Qin Manjiang decided to avoid the other players, especially Shen Hai, unless they needed help.
• Qin Manjiang entered the Nursing Home courtyard and saw an elderly person sitting on a stone bench.
• Du Bi'an photographed the Public Toilet rules and assessed the dangers and conditions for leaving the area.
• Du Bi'an held his breath and charged into the Public Toilet.

Luo Chengyou revealed that his Permanent Item, the Mind-Reading Mirror, had been consuming his sanity and destroying his Spirit Pupil Points. After crushing it, he entered Nine-Bend Alley alone and found its walls and path transformed into white surfaces covered with sticky black masses.

• Luo Chengyou recalled how the Mind-Reading Mirror let him read the next thoughts of ghosts and players, but permanently drained his sanity and accelerated his decline with each use.
• Luo Chengyou decided he no longer needed the mirror or the imagined life it represented, and crushed the Permanent Item underfoot.
• Luo Chengyou memorized the Nine-Bend Alley rules and entered the alley after the others had left.
• Luo Chengyou saw the alley turn white around him, with sticky masses resembling Frog Eggs covering the walls and ground.

Luo Chengyou entered a strange alley where he had to keep walking, avoid the walls, and never look back. After a monster posing as Xu Tingfang tricked him into stepping backward, he fled through the alley and reached three branching paths without being able to stop.

• Luo Chengyou heard a voice claiming to be Xu Tingfang warn him that black patches in the alley were pathogens, but he suspected she was a ghost and kept moving.
• Xu Tingfang urged Luo Chengyou to walk backward out of the alley, and he used his phone’s front-facing camera to see her at the entrance.
• Luo Chengyou realized the woman could not have seen the black particles inside the alley and suspected she was a monster.
• A crack opened in the wall, a huge shadow appeared, and Luo Chengyou ran as the monster pursued him while mimicking Xu Tingfang’s voice.
• After about three minutes of running, Luo Chengyou reached three curving branches but could not stop to choose a path.

Luo Chengyou escaped into the narrow, dark middle branch to hinder the monster chasing him and began considering why Nine-Bend Alley did not require disinfection. As the passage narrowed ahead, he realized he might soon have to choose between touching its walls and stopping.

• Luo Chengyou rejected the bright left branch and the unchanged right branch, then chose the narrow middle branch to slow the monster pursuing him.
• He used his phone’s flashlight to navigate the damp passage, carefully avoiding the black granules and the walls.
• Luo Chengyou noticed the monster’s scraping stopped after it reached the narrow branch, suggesting it could not enter.
• He reasoned that Nine-Bend Alley might require no disinfection because its pathogen could not spread beyond it, though he remained uncertain.
• Luo Chengyou discovered that the walls were closing in as he advanced and feared he would have to touch them or stop walking.

Du Bi'an noticed that something had tampered with the public toilet rules, then entered to follow the remaining instructions. While he was using a stall, a presence began checking the doors, and he found a mysterious message ordering him to come out.

• Du Bi'an realized the red warning and the instruction to investigate strange noises were likely malicious additions, and tried to warn the other players by phone.
• Du Bi'an entered the public toilet, held his breath, and rapidly checked the stalls to confirm he was alone.
• He found the second-to-last stall locked and heard a toilet flush from inside, then hurried into the opposite stall to use the toilet.
• As Du Bi'an urinated, he heard hurried footsteps enter and spotted the words "Open the door and come out!" on the stall door.
• A presence began opening the stall doors one by one to search inside.

Du Bi'an tried to survive the Public Toilet area by following its conflicting rules and realized the thing outside the stall might be himself. After his breath ran out, black particles fell from the ceiling and burrowed into his body as the fog cleared.

• Du Bi'an flushed despite the heavy footsteps outside, and the sound of the doors being pushed stopped.
• Du Bi'an reasoned that the footsteps might be his own, growing lighter as the thing outside became safe to leave with.
• Du Bi'an hesitated over the message on the stall door because it conflicted with the rule not to trust messages there.
• Du Bi'an saw white shoes and trouser cuffs matching his own through the gap, then recognized the door message as his handwriting.
• Du Bi'an released his nose to breathe, and black particles dropped from the ceiling and burrowed into every opening in his body.

Luo Chengyou pushed through the narrowing middle path in Nine-Bend Alley Way, convinced he had to follow through on his choice despite knowing it might be wrong. He touched the walls and was crushed, realizing too late what the rule about disinfection meant; the fog then cleared.

• Luo Chengyou continued down the narrowing, dark middle path while his phone battery dwindled and he questioned whether he had chosen the wrong fork.
• Luo Chengyou resolved to keep moving forward rather than turn back, accepting that his decision was his own.
• The alley walls closed in until Luo Chengyou touched them, triggering crushing pressure that broke his bones and injured him.
• As he was trapped between the walls, Luo Chengyou touched the sticky “Frog Eggs” and understood the meaning of [No disinfection required].
• The walls crushed Luo Chengyou, his blood vanished from them, and the fog cleared from the Nine-Bend Alley Lane area.

Xu Tingfang entered the Library to escape the fog and searched for the Library Administrator while carefully following the rules. After realizing the Library’s people might be invisible, she devised a way to make the Administrator come to her.

• Xu Tingfang entered the Library in her socks after removing her muddy shoes, worried that she had broken the cleanliness rule.
• She saw fog press against the glass door, but it dispersed without entering.
• Xu Tingfang searched for the Library Administrator and heard a book fall, followed by the sound of pages turning.
• She found a floating book and another on the floor, but could not tell whether the invisible reader was a Borrower or the Administrator.
• Xu Tingfang recalled a similar situation and realized she could make the Administrator come to her.

Xu Tingfang realized that every book in the Library was an identical copy of “Sick Village Records.” At the Medical Station, Yu Ruoli struggled to follow its rules when a patient called her “Doctor,” then suspected that accepting the title might break a rule.

• Xu Tingfang considered scrambling the books to summon the Library Administrator, but discovered that every book was an identical copy of “Sick Village Records.”
• Yu Ruoli entered the Medical Station and used the Spirit Medium Sketchbook, which produced only a crooked line.
• A patient in the dark corridor called Yu Ruoli “Doctor” and asked her to change its dressing.
• Yu Ruoli kept silent as the patient approached, then realized it might be trying to make her accept the forbidden role of doctor.