Chapter Summaries

Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai discovered that the Old Director had served them suspicious meat, while Yu Ruoli woke in the Basement beside a dismembered corpse. The Old Director confronted her and asked whether she knew what Mermaid Flesh was.

• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai found elderly residents awake in every room on the second floor and were stopped by the Old Director.
• Qin Manjiang claimed they were looking for food, and the Old Director led them to the Back Courtyard Kitchen and served them bowls of meat.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai entered the Kitchen and found a finger bone in a pot of braised meat, making them suspect it was Mermaid Flesh.
• Yu Ruoli woke in the Basement beside the half-dismembered corpse of the elderly woman from the Medical Station.
• The Old Director appeared at the Basement stairs and asked Yu Ruoli if she knew what Mermaid Flesh was.

Yu Ruoli discovered that the Old Director was turning people into mermaids by feeding them strange meat, but his body was made of Frog Eggs and she could not fight him. After he forced her to eat, scales grew over her limbs, and her eyes began to lose the ability to blink.

• The Old Director told Yu Ruoli that mermaids were made by turning humans into fish and offered her a bowl of meat.
• Yu Ruoli waited for the Old Director to approach, then kicked at him, but her foot sank into Frog Eggs that made up his lower body.
• The Old Director made the Frog Eggs crawl off Yu Ruoli and return to him, then forced her to eat the meat.
• Yu Ruoli tried to vomit after the Old Director left, but the meat had dissolved in her stomach.
• Grayish-white scales covered Yu Ruoli's limbs and regrew whenever she clawed them off, and she found that she could no longer blink.

Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai found that Yu Ruoli had disappeared and suspected the director had abducted her. They decided to exploit the nursing home’s aggression rule and split up to search for her and the missing old woman’s room, while Shen Hai planned to test a theory in the courtyard.

• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai found Yu Ruoli missing from the staff dormitory, while Xu Tingfang’s corpse remained in place.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai reasoned that the director wanted either a living person or someone untouched by the frog eggs, and agreed that he was a supernatural entity.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai took alcohol-containing liquids and planned to use them against the director and any frog eggs they encountered.
• Qin Manjiang set out to search for Yu Ruoli, while Shen Hai was tasked with finding the missing old woman’s room.
• Shen Hai questioned why all eight second-floor rooms seemed occupied, then planned to test a conjecture in the courtyard as Qin Manjiang left.

Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai planned to search the second-floor rooms for clues while the Old Director sent the seven elderly residents after them. After discovering a likely hidden space and realizing one of the residents might be an impostor, they prepared to fight as they searched.

• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai evaded the Old Director, who went upstairs and threatened to send someone to find them.
• Qin Manjiang told Shen Hai to draw the residents to the Back Courtyard while he searched their rooms for the first missing resident's room.
• Shen Hai led Qin Manjiang into the Front Yard, where they noticed the second floor appeared to contain hidden space.
• Qin Manjiang realized the Nursing Home still had seven elderly residents despite one having disappeared, suggesting something inhuman had joined them.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai considered whether the Old Director was the red-clad figure and decided to attack anyone they encountered.

Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai fought their way through the Nursing Home as they searched for a hidden room. After reuniting in the Main Hall, Shen Hai began making an eerie choking sound and told Qin Manjiang to go.

• Qin Manjiang chopped off a hand reaching through the Kitchen door and poured Huoxiang Zhengqi Water on it, turning it into motionless frog eggs.
• Qin Manjiang scattered cooked meat across the Kitchen floor, escaped through a window, and watched three old people rush in to fight over it.
• Shen Hai lured an old person out of the Main Hall, struck it with a cooking wine bottle, and destroyed it with the wine.
• Shen Hai chased another old person through the Main Hall, then realized it was Qin Manjiang, and the two decided to search for the hidden room together.
• Qin Manjiang noticed Shen Hai clutching his neck and making an eerie sound before telling him to go.

Qin Manjiang realized Shen Hai had been guiding him to the third-floor storage room while pretending to be controlled, and the two of them discovered a way into the hidden space beneath it. They confronted the Old Director, whose power depended on the name Shen Hai had been given.

• Shen Hai attacked Qin Manjiang, who dodged and tried to determine whether Shen Hai could still resist the Old Director’s control.
• Qin Manjiang realized Shen Hai was guiding him upstairs and followed him into the third-floor storage room.
• Shen Hai gave Qin Manjiang his Gazing Mirror glasses, which revealed themselves to be a one-time item that could reverse-track a curse.
• Qin Manjiang remembered that he had called Shen Hai “Shen Qing” when the Old Director asked for his name, keeping their real names hidden.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai entered the sealed hidden room and greeted the startled Old Director.

Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai exposed the Old Director’s deception and killed him in the secret chamber beneath the village. The Game did not end, and the Old Director’s claim that Yu Ruoli had become a mermaid left her fate uncertain.

• Shen Hai revealed that he had pretended the Old Director’s curse controlled him so he could trace its source and locate him.
• Shen Hai opened a hidden floor entrance, and he and Qin Manjiang descended into the chamber where the Old Director stood inside a candlelit pentagram.
• Qin Manjiang’s knife passed through the Old Director, whose body transformed into Frog Eggs and then returned to flesh.
• Shen Hai splashed the Old Director with Cooking Wine while Qin Manjiang threw Huoxiang Zhengqi Water at him.
• The Old Director warned that Yu Ruoli had become a mermaid and that only he could save her, but Qin Manjiang poured Cooking Wine into his mouth and dissolved him into foul blood.
• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai waited for the Game to end, but it did not.

After killing the Old Director, Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai discovered that the threat remained and suspected Yu Ruoli had become another point of contact with the evil god. When bloody scales and rising water trapped them, Qin Manjiang chose to descend into the opening to save her while Shen Hai stayed behind.

• Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai realized the game had not ended because another point of contact with the evil god might still exist, and suspected Yu Ruoli.
• They opened the hidden space and saw freezing water and bloody fish scales flowing upward as a chilling, overlapping voice cried from below.
• The water trapped Qin Manjiang and Shen Hai, but they discovered they could move toward the opening and could escape by breaking a window instead.
• Shen Hai urged Qin Manjiang to take the safer route out, but Qin Manjiang told him to go ahead and chose to descend after Yu Ruoli.
• Qin Manjiang recalled Yu Ruoli's kindness and the affection he sensed between them, and resolved that she should not be taken by the evil god.

Qin Manjiang reached Yu Ruoli in the secret room and used the Doll to erase her longevity ability, sacrificing his capacity for liking. Shen Hai left alone, and the Ghost Story announced that Sick Village had been cleared.

• Shen Hai remembered the woman who had cared for him, punched through a window, and climbed outside.
• Qin Manjiang found Yu Ruoli transformed into a mermaid and confirmed that she remained conscious.
• Qin Manjiang comforted Yu Ruoli as she resisted her monstrous instincts and told him her ability was longevity.
• Qin Manjiang used the Doll to erase Yu Ruoli's longevity ability, sacrificing his emotion of liking.
• Shen Hai heard the Ghost Story announce that Sick Village had been cleared.

Yu Ruoli and Shen Hai returned from the game, while Qin Manjiang resumed investigating the transformed players in Moon City. Kong summoned Qin Manjiang to a hunting game at the Yuelai Hotel, and Dog revealed that the boss had left his Spirit Coffin before the others awoke.

• Yu Ruoli woke in Fu City without scales or other signs of transformation and decided not to call Qin Manjiang because she believed he wanted to keep his identity secret.
• Shen Hai contacted Qin Manjiang, accepted his proposal in exchange for help clearing the game, and agreed to investigate the impostor in Fu City's Eye Realm.
• Qin Manjiang returned to the Apartment in Moon City, questioned Fang Xiu about the murderer who killed Yan Yaoling, and asked whether the hunters had a time limit.
• Dog met Qin Manjiang outside the Apartment and relayed Kong's invitation to the Yuelai Hotel at seven for a hunting game.
• Dog told Qin Manjiang that only nine of the ten revived members had returned because the boss had opened his own Spirit Coffin and left earlier.

Qin Manjiang and Flower went undercover at a lavish Moon City party to identify a high-status hunter, armed with information from Star’s reality-based divination. At the banquet, Qin Manjiang encountered Mi Qiao, whom he recognized and greeted as someone who had been promoted quickly.

• Flower explained that a hunter planned to kill prey at the party under the rules, and said Star’s divination had revealed the coming event without identifying the people involved or its outcome.
• Flower and Qin Manjiang changed into formal clothes and entered the banquet, where Qin Manjiang received a white tulip and Flower received a red rose.
• Flower went to investigate the host while Qin Manjiang mingled with the guests and spoke with Xie Jia of Moon City’s Xie Group.
• Qin Manjiang watched Mi Qiao, and she approached him after their eyes met; Xie Jia introduced them before leaving.
• Qin Manjiang shook Mi Qiao’s hand and remarked that she had been promoted quickly.

Mi Qiao warned Qin Manjiang that Moon City's powerful figures knew about Jiang Du's planned resurrection and would target Qin Manjiang if they discovered him. At the banquet, Qin Manjiang recognized Xinxin onstage and then identified the returning violinist as Lian Yan, the villain protagonist of [Ping'an Hospital].

• Qin Manjiang confronted Mi Qiao at the banquet, and she led him away to warn him to leave Moon City.
• Mi Qiao revealed that she had investigated whether Jiang Du had returned to life and told Qin Manjiang that Moon City's powerful figures would become interested in him if he stayed.
• Qin Manjiang inferred that Kong had brought him to the banquet to draw out the hidden force in Moon City.
• Flower told Qin Manjiang that the banquet's host was a famous violinist who had recently reappeared, but the hall lights dimmed before she could finish.
• Qin Manjiang saw Xinxin onstage and then recognized the violinist playing by the window as Lian Yan.

At Lian Yan’s banquet, Qin Manjiang learned that Lian Yan had returned from [Ping'an Hospital] to the real world and had found Xinxin trapped in a photograph. Lian Yan tried to get Qin Manjiang out before the banquet turned deadly, but the doors sealed and the lights went out, leaving them trapped in a killing game.

• Lian Yan approached Qin Manjiang, greeted him as an old acquaintance, and asked Flower to leave them alone.
• Lian Yan introduced himself as being from Moon City and brought Xinxin over, explaining that she had emerged from a photograph like a doll without a soul.
• Qin Manjiang asked whether Xinxin was dead, and Lian Yan said he did not know.
• Lian Yan grabbed Qin Manjiang’s wrist and tried to lead him out, warning that Moon City’s banquet was a hunting ground.
• The hotel doors slammed shut, the lights vanished, and guests screamed as sounds of chewing and tearing filled the darkness.
• Lian Yan apologized for failing to get Qin Manjiang out and announced that the banquet’s theme was killing.

Qin Manjiang witnessed Lian Yan’s Killing Feast, in which Permanent Item holders hunted other Players and the hotel grounds were sealed off. Lian Yan explained Moon City’s rules and revealed that he was Lian Yan, the one who had broken free of the Ghost Story’s restraints.

• After the lights returned, Qin Manjiang saw five men brutally kill five women in the banquet hall, and another group attack began among the fleeing Guests.
• The Guests discovered that police calls could not connect and armed forces had blocked the roads, shooting at people who tried to escape.
• Lian Yan told Qin Manjiang that Xinxin was a soulless puppet and led him toward the rooftop, saying only three winners were allowed in the game.
• Lian Yan explained that he had altered Moon City’s Eye Realm into a Killing Feast, where Permanent Item holders hunted Players and the last ten survivors would advance.
• Qin Manjiang recalled Lian Yan’s name from Ping'an Hospital, and Lian Yan said he was the one who had broken free of the Ghost Story’s restraints.

On the rooftop, Lian Yan explained the Paleontology Research Association’s connection to the [Eye Realm] and revealed that it could imitate the realm by fusing real places with Ghost Story Worlds. Qin Manjiang connected that ability to Lower River Village.

• Lian Yan showed Qin Manjiang the armed men surrounding the banquet and explained that they belonged to an alliance of nonplayers who knew about the [Eye Realm].
• Lian Yan warned Qin Manjiang to stay away from Moon City after tonight and named the organization as the Paleontology Research Association.
• Lian Yan said the association believed the [Eye Realm] offered a path to godhood, unlike his view that its inhabitants were merely playthings.
• Lian Yan revealed that the association could imitate the [Eye Realm] by turning real villages into places fused with Ghost Story Worlds.
• Qin Manjiang remembered Lower River Village as a possible example of the association’s experiments.

Qin Manjiang watched an out-of-control player’s power turn the banquet into a massacre and help guests break through the Paleontology Research Association’s blockade. He recognized his sister Qin Manyi among those fleeing and rushed downstairs, where they reunited.

• Lian Yan explained that the out-of-control player’s permanent item had triggered a hunting rule and showed no intention of stopping the slaughter.
• Qin Manjiang spotted a red car charging the blockade, then watched the guests affected by the power attack the gunmen and escape.
• Qin Manjiang recognized Qin Manyi stepping out of the red car and hurried to the first floor, fearing she was the out-of-control player.
• Qin Manjiang and Qin Manyi met at the hotel entrance, and Qin Manyi exclaimed, "Brother!"

Qin Manjiang reunited with Qin Manyi at the Yuelai Hotel, where the Paleontology Research Association attacked them under Doctor’s orders. Kong received Doctor’s device for forcing open the [Eye Realm] door and revealed that Jiang Du had returned to life as part of a plan tied to Moon City’s final stage.

• Qin Manjiang found Qin Manyi at the Yuelai Hotel and pulled her away from a Red Car explosion.
• A helicopter opened fire on Qin Manjiang and Qin Manyi, driving them into the hotel as Doctor watched and demanded that the attack become more dangerous.
• Doctor gave Lin an [Eye Realm] phone for Yan Xiao, then admitted to Kong that he had invited Qin Manjiang to Moon City as a possible key to the realm.
• Doctor gave Kong a device that could force open the [Eye Realm] door, while Kong said he intended to enter despite having already died once.
• Kong recalled that Jiang Du had returned to life and shared their goal concerning Moon City's final stage, then urged Yi Lianhai to survive until the end.

Yi Lianhai recalled how Jiang Du and Zuo Xian discovered the Eye Realm, then resolved to force Jiang Du’s return through Qin Manjiang. As Qin Manjiang and Qin Manyi hid in the Yuelai Hotel basement, they encountered the waitress who had given him a white tulip, and he sensed something was wrong with her.

• Twenty years earlier, Zuo Xian, Yi Lianhai, and Jiang Du independently discovered the Eye Realm, and Zuo Xian and Jiang Du later entered it as players.
• Jiang Du and Zuo Xian grew distant and changed, then clashed after apparently learning a truth about the Eye Realm.
• Jiang Du gave Yi Lianhai a phone and told him to find a young man who looked like him in Fu City twenty years later.
• Three days after a rainy day, Yi Lianhai learned that Jiang Du had died and Zuo Xian had vanished, while everyone else from the Moon City Eye Realm had died without leaving remains.
• Yi Lianhai believed Jiang Du could return through Qin Manjiang and warned Kong not to interfere with his plans.
• Qin Manjiang carried Qin Manyi into the Yuelai Hotel basement to escape the gunfire and encountered the tulip-giving waitress, sensing something was wrong with her.

Lian Yan killed the flower-mutated waitress in the hotel cellar, but her Permanent Item disappeared, suggesting someone else had taken it. After calling off the lockdown, he warned Qin Manjiang and Qin Manyi to stay below and gave Qin Manjiang his contact information before leaving.

• Qin Manjiang realized the flowers might have caused the guests’ mutations and discarded the white tulip in his pocket.
• Lian Yan arrived and identified the waitress, whose neck and face transformed into a bloody flower.
• Lian Yan used arms emerging from the waitress’s shadow to drag her into it and kill her.
• Lian Yan noticed a figure at the cellar entrance and found that the waitress’s Permanent Item had vanished.
• Lian Yan lifted the lockdown, warned Qin Manjiang and Qin Manyi about the people upstairs, and gave Qin Manjiang his business card before leaving.

Qin Manjiang reunited with Qin Manyi and learned how her unusual transfer from Fu City’s Eye Realm to Moon City had drawn the interest of her boss, who suspected the Lower River Village ghost story was artificial. After realizing Flower may have reclaimed a Permanent Item that once belonged to her, Qin Manjiang agreed to go with his sister to her boss’s home, despite the boss refusing to meet men.

• Qin Manjiang and Qin Manyi waited in the wine cellar while Lian Yan went out to deal with the hostile organization, and Qin Manyi explained that she had come to the hotel by accident while making a delivery.
• Qin Manjiang confronted Qin Manyi about cutting off contact, and she told him her boss had forbidden her from contacting him because it might put him in danger.
• Qin Manyi revealed that her boss believed the Lower River Village ghost story was artificial and had been created by someone from Moon City, causing Qin Manyi to be absorbed into Moon City’s Eye Realm.
• Qin Manjiang inferred that Qin Manyi’s boss was likely an Escapee Player who wanted to exploit differences between the Eye Realm systems, and he asked to meet her.
• Qin Manjiang recalled seeing Flower take the out-of-control player’s Permanent Item [Flower] and suspected it had belonged to Flower twenty years earlier.
• Qin Manyi offered Qin Manjiang a place to stay at her boss’s home, and he agreed because neither of them had money for another option.