Chapter Summaries

Yan Xiao and Shen Hai discovered an underground tomb beneath [Southern Branch Troupe] and learned that a Taoist priest had sealed a many-headed monster inside it. The chapter ended with Yan Xiao finding a coffin packed with emaciated people who appeared to be alive despite looking long dead.

• Shen Hai studied the carvings and concluded that they depicted a Taoist priest sealing a five-headed man-eating monster with Soul-Suppressing Jade Cicadas beneath a watercourse.
• Yan Xiao hurried ahead and found an underground burial chamber with an open stone coffin, while Shen Hai explained that its inscriptions had suppressed the monster.
• A withered hand grabbed Shen Hai from the coffin, but Yan Xiao severed it and freed him.
• Yan Xiao cautiously shone his flashlight through the coffin's crack and saw living people with shriveled, corpse-like bodies piled inside, pleading to be killed.

Qin Manjiang and the others learned about the Southern Branch Troupe before encountering a monster wearing Zhao Qigong’s face. Yu Chenglin’s incantation stopped the monster, leaving Qin Manjiang suspicious that Yu Chenglin knew more than he admitted.

• Yu Chenglin explained that the Southern Branch Troupe performed for the living by day and the dead by night, and had stayed in Fu City for a hundred years.
• Qin Manjiang reflected on how his body appeared to others and how his Permanent Items no longer worked as the two spacetimes merged.
• A caretaker confronted the group, then turned into a sheet of paper after Zhao Qigong’s monstrous form appeared and consumed her flesh and organs.
• Qin Manjiang and the others fled from Zhao Qigong, but Yu Chenglin stopped to chant an incantation that made the monster’s flesh constrict and immobilize him.
• Qin Manjiang questioned whether Yu Chenglin’s chant could subdue ghosts, while Xu Yi suspected the real threat had yet to appear.

After “The Unicorn-Pouch” played, everyone in the Southern Branch Troupe was frozen as time raced forward, then gathered before the Opera Stage amid living paper figures. Xu Yi concluded that the Jade Cicadas had all been found and the final show was beginning, and Lin Yanqing, revealed as Mei Sijun, arrived with the last Jade Cicada.

• Qin Manjiang suspected that he, Xu Yi, and Xinxin had already fallen into the opera, where spoken words could become a kind of power.
• The song “The Unicorn-Pouch” played, and everyone in the Southern Branch Troupe froze while the sky darkened and time raced through six day-and-night cycles.
• Qin Manjiang and the others reappeared together before the Opera Stage, surrounded by silent paper figures and facing a figure who seemed to be Lin Yanqing.
• Xu Yi, Qin Manjiang, Yu Chenglin, and Yang revealed that each had a Jade Cicada, while Yang explained that he had found his backstage.
• Lin Yanqing, revealed as Mei Sijun, arrived and said she had the remaining Jade Cicada.

After collecting the five Jade Cicadas, Qin Manjiang and the others became trapped as Persons in the Opera while Mei Sijun explained that the Yellow Springs Opera was beginning. The singer’s performance drew the group into a trance and brought their deepest memories to mind.

• Mei Sijun revealed that he was a Ghost in the Opera inhabiting Lin Yanqing’s body, while the others were Persons in the Opera who could not leave their seats.
• Yan Xiao explained that the five Jade Cicadas had suppressed a five-headed ghost beneath the well, and finding them had released it.
• Red lanterns lit, paper musicians began playing, and Mei Sijun warned the group that they had to survive the Yellow Springs Opera.
• The river surrounded and submerged the [Southern Branch Troupe], leaving the Opera House isolated with no visible shore.
• Paper figures performed onstage before the singer began an eerie song that entranced the audience and stirred their deepest memories.

Qin Manjiang and the others were trapped in the rising waters as the Yellow Springs Opera turned them into paper figures, and Mei Sijun revealed that he shared his identity with Lin Yanqing and Li Yunxiu. Mei Sijun explained the century-old cycle of Li Yunxiu’s death and reincarnation, leaving Qin Manjiang to confront his own uncertain identity.

• The eerie singing stirred unbearable memories in everyone except Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun, while the river flooded the Opera House and turned their feet into wet paper.
• Qin Manjiang tried to wake the others, then demanded to know who Mei Sijun was as the water continued rising.
• Mei Sijun revealed that he was also Lin Yanqing and Li Yunxiu, and asked Qin Manjiang what he would do if his memories belonged to someone else.
• Mei Sijun explained that Li Yunxiu had been chosen to solve [Yellow Springs Opera] over a century earlier and had stolen Zhao Qigong’s Jade Cicada before drowning herself in the well.
• Mei Sijun said Li Yunxiu’s divided soul had preserved her thoughts while the other half became Lin Yanqing, who repeatedly returned to [Southern Branch Troupe] and died there; this time, that cycle had become him.

Mei Sijun explained how Li Yunxiu’s divided soul and repeated reincarnations trapped Yellow Springs Opera in an endless cycle, while Qin Manjiang realized his own body might be a vessel and his soul the water inside it. The chapter ended with Mei Sijun asking whether Qin Manjiang would still be himself if he discovered he was Professor Jiang.

• Mei Sijun recognized Qin Manjiang as someone he had met in a past incarnation and recalled that he had once partnered with Professor Jiang in the Ghost Story Game.
• Mei Sijun compared bodies to vessels and souls to water, suggesting Qin Manjiang’s body had fixed limits and that he might be a soul fitted into it.
• Mei Sijun explained that Li Yunxiu’s Jade Cicada altered her soul, allowing her and his reincarnating half to persist beyond death.
• Mei Sijun revealed that Li Yunxiu’s death left the original Yellow Springs Opera unresolved, turning later attempts to clear it into an endless cycle and Ultimate Game.
• Mei Sijun asked Qin Manjiang what he would do if he discovered he was Professor Jiang, and whether he would still be himself.

Yang, Shen Hai, and Yan Xiao broke free of [Yellow Springs Opera], and Qin Manjiang laid out a plan to escape. After Qin Manjiang helped Mei Sijun accept his own identity, Mei Sijun began a rival performance against Li Yunxiu.

• Yang broke free of [Yellow Springs Opera] and urged Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun to focus on surviving.
• Qin Manjiang proposed stopping the rising river, ending Li Yunxiu's soul, and summoning the five-headed Vengeful Ghost to seal it.
• Shen Hai and Yan Xiao revealed that they had also escaped the opera's control, and Shen Hai suggested staging a rival performance to silence the ghost.
• Qin Manjiang told Mei Sijun that his doubts proved he was his own person, and Mei Sijun resolved to live and sing for himself.
• Mei Sijun sang the spell Yu Chenglin had used, starting the rival performance and bringing a warm breeze across the river.

Mei Sijun defeated Li Yunxiu in their rival performance, making the river recede and freeing the people from their memories. The Opera House then rose as the Five-Headed Vengeful Ghost, and Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin’s group began using the Golden Light Mantra to fight it and restore the Jade Cicadas.

• Mei Sijun’s unaccompanied [Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra] overpowered Li Yunxiu and the Ghost Opera Troupe, ending their contest and causing the river to recede.
• Xu Yi and the others regained their senses, but the Opera House shook, rose from the ground, and revealed the Five-Headed Vengeful Ghost fused with the [Southern Branch Troupe].
• The ghost split the earth beneath the fleeing group, and Yang pulled Yu Chenglin out of the fissure before urging everyone to keep running.
• Qin Manjiang said they had to put the Jade Cicadas back into the ghost’s mouths, while Yu Chenglin proposed using the [Golden Light Mantra] to hold it off.
• Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin led the group in reciting the mantra, and Mei Sijun cast its protection over Xinxin as a giant limb struck toward her.

Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin used the Golden Light Divine Incantation to protect Yang and Qin Manjiang, then collapsed or withdrew as the Vengeful Ghost attacked. Yang used his Reverse-Time Hourglass to save Qin Manjiang from a fatal blow, and the two advanced toward the monster’s five heads with their Jade Cicadas.

• Mei Sijun and Yu Chenglin recited the Golden Light Divine Incantation, coating Yang and Qin Manjiang in protective golden light before Mei Sijun passed out.
• Yan Xiao carried Mei Sijun away while the others hid, and Qin Manjiang discovered that the golden light greatly enhanced his strength and speed.
• Yang and Qin Manjiang dodged the Vengeful Ghost’s enormous limbs and charged toward the monster fused with the Southern Branch Troupe.
• A house-sized fist struck Qin Manjiang and gravely injured him, but Yang reversed time by five seconds and caught him before the blow landed.
• Yang and Qin Manjiang, carrying five Jade Cicadas between them, leaped toward the Vengeful Ghost’s five heads.

Qin Manjiang and Yang struggled to reach the Five-Headed Vengeful Ghost while Yan Xiao and Xinxin fought off waves of paper figures at the riverbank. Yu Chenglin arrived with a plan to exploit the ghost’s fear of fire, but it required someone to set himself alight and charge upward.

• Paper figures crawled from the ground and attacked the group, so Yan Xiao and Xinxin fought them while Qin Manjiang and Yang battled the Vengeful Ghost.
• A storm broke, and the rain further weakened Qin Manjiang and Yang’s golden protection as they failed to get near the ghost’s heads.
• Qin Manjiang searched for Yu Chenglin, hoping he could help cast the Golden Light Mantra, but could not find him at the riverbank.
• Yu Chenglin reached Qin Manjiang and Yang and explained that the opera-script monster feared fire because it loved and controlled water.
• Yu Chenglin urged one of them to set himself on fire and charge into the sky to get past the Vengeful Ghost.

As torrential rain threatened to turn the paper-bodied people back into paper, Shen Hai learned the Golden Light Mantra from Mei Sijun and used it to revive him. Shen Hai ended the chapter proud that he had remembered the final line.

• Yu Chenglin urged Qin Manjiang and Yang to use fire against the ghost and offered them lamp oil, while Qin Manjiang followed Yang with suspicions about Yu Chenglin's motives.
• The rain flattened the paper figures and began turning Yan Xiao and the others back into paper, so Xinxin tried to shield Yan Xiao from the downpour.
• Xu Yi found a covered wooden boat and dragged Shen Hai and Mei Sijun beneath it, but the others were caught in the rain.
• Shen Hai asked Mei Sijun to teach him the Golden Light Mantra, and Mei Sijun recited it while his body cracked and his life faded.
• After Mei Sijun lost consciousness, Shen Hai recited the final line and channeled golden light into him, restoring his heartbeat and bringing him back to life.

Mei Sijun and Shen Hai used the Golden Light Mantra to keep their allies alive while Yan Xiao recovered and rescued the others. Yu Chenglin betrayed Qin Manjiang and Yang to seize the five Jade Cicadas, but Xu Yi, Mei Sijun, and Shen Hai arrived to stop him.

• Shen Hai explained that he had given Mei Sijun the Golden Light Mantra so Mei could sing it again, and Mei used it to renew their protection.
• Xinxin used Yan Xiao’s Scalpel on his paper-thin body, restoring him; Yan Xiao then saved her from a black limb and ran to help the others.
• Yu Chenglin set Yang alight with Lamp Oil, and Yang climbed the Vengeful Ghost with Qin Manjiang and Yu Chenglin following behind.
• At the Vengeful Ghost’s heads, Yu Chenglin transferred the flames to Qin Manjiang, took all five Jade Cicadas, and left Qin Manjiang and Yang falling toward the ground.
• Xu Yi appeared as Mei Sijun used the Golden Light Mantra on Yang, who caught Qin Manjiang and helped put out the flames.
• Shen Hai, Mei Sijun, and Xu Yi confronted Yu Chenglin and demanded that he hand over the Jade Cicadas.

Yang and Yan Xiao’s group reunited as Yu Chenglin used all five Jade Cicadas to transform himself into a conscious Vengeful Ghost, destroying the giant ghost and [Southern Branch Troupe]. Yu Chenglin spared the group and revealed that he had sought freedom and power because of his end-stage kidney failure.

• Yang brought the paper-thin Qin Manjiang to Yan Xiao, who used his scalpel to restore Qin Manjiang’s body.
• Yu Chenglin swallowed all five Jade Cicadas, set himself on fire, and leaped from the Vengeful Ghost to die.
• The Jade Cicadas transformed Yu Chenglin’s corpse, and he rose as a conscious Vengeful Ghost with terrifying powers.
• Yu Chenglin’s scarlet baleful energy split the giant Vengeful Ghost, and fire consumed it and [Southern Branch Troupe].
• Yu Chenglin approached the reunited group, spared them, and told Yan Xiao that he had sought power and freedom because of his end-stage kidney failure.

Mei Sijun’s chant exposed Yu Chenglin’s deception: the Jade Cicadas he had taken were fakes, and he dissolved as the mantra weakened him. After the group realized they were paper effigies that had to burn to return to the real world, they entered the flames and completed the Yellow Springs Opera ghost story.

• Qin Manjiang urged Mei Sijun to sing the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra, and Yu Chenglin began melting as Mei repeated it.
• Qin Manjiang revealed he had switched the Jade Cicada Yu Chenglin sought with a piece of jade that was not a Jade Cicada, and Yu Chenglin dissolved completely.
• When no completion notification appeared, Yang and Qin Manjiang realized that their bodies were paper effigies and that fire had not affected them because the ghost story was still ongoing.
• Nie Yunzhen explained that paper effigies had to be burned to be sent to another world, and Yang inferred that the group could return to reality once the story ended.
• Yang and the others walked into the flames and burned to ashes; Qin Manjiang discarded the real Jade Cicada before following them, and the Ghost Story Game announced the story’s completion.

After escaping the Yellow Springs Opera ghost story, Qin Manjiang and the other players returned to the real world, where they discussed the six days that had passed and made plans to rest. Mei Sijun affirmed that he would always recognize Qin Manjiang, but the words “Professor Jiang” suddenly appeared in Qin Manjiang’s mind and caused him intense pain.

• Qin Manjiang and the players returned to the riverbank, where they received their Spirit Pupil rewards and watched Yu Chenglin’s body dissolve into black particles.
• Yang explained that people who died in ghost stories vanished without a trace, and Qin Manjiang asked him to help find a job.
• Chen Zhiyuan noticed that six days had passed in the real world, and Xu Yi speculated that their bodies might be vessels like the paper figures.
• Yang sent the exhausted players home and promised to share details of the ghost story, while Shen Hai had already left.
• Mei Sijun told Qin Manjiang that he would always recognize him, then left before Qin Manjiang could reply.
• Qin Manjiang thought that no one, not even himself, could make him change, when “Professor Jiang” appeared in his mind and triggered a sharp pain.

Qin Manjiang resisted his body's attempt to erase the name Jiang Du, and Nie Yunzhen recognized him by it before fainting. Meanwhile, Bai Yang decided to enter the Permanent Logout Challenge despite Chen Zhiyuan's warnings, and Qin Manjiang began searching for Jiang Du the next morning.

• Xu Yi noticed that Qin Manjiang seemed as if he had been locked up again, while Qin Manjiang struggled to remember the name Professor Jiang.
• Nie Yunzhen heard Qin Manjiang repeat Jiang Du's name, recognized him as Jiang Du, and fainted.
• Chen Zhiyuan warned Bai Yang that the Permanent Logout Challenge might be a trap designed to take his Spirit Pupils, but Bai Yang said he was too tired to keep living as he had been.
• Bai Yang refused to make Chen Zhiyuan test the challenge through Nie Yunzhen first and said that surviving after losing everything would be pointless.
• The next morning, Qin Manjiang remembered Jiang Du and searched the name and the word professor on his computer.

The Ghost Story Game and Qin Manjiang’s Relic Phone stopped working after the system announced a month-long upgrade and ordered players to stay in Fu City. Qin Manjiang learned that Professor Jiang Du looked exactly like him, then accepted Yang’s offer to investigate an anomaly at Baihong Building.

• The Ghost Story Game announced a one-month upgrade, canceled all games, and warned players not to leave Fu City; Qin Manjiang found that his Relic Phone had also stopped working.
• Qin Manjiang and Nie Yunzhen ate breakfast while he searched for Jiang Du, whose photograph looked exactly like him.
• Qin Manjiang considered visiting Moon City but remembered his promise to return to Lower River Village with Qin Manyi and Xi Wutong.
• Yang offered Qin Manjiang a security job investigating an anomaly for a hundred thousand, and explained how Spirit Pupils affected ghosts in the real world.
• Yang sent Qin Manjiang the address of Baihong Building in Fu City’s Central District.

On her first day at Baihong Building, Tang Baihe encountered a terrifying apparition in an elevator, while Qin Manjiang could see the blood and supernatural signs she could no longer perceive. They reached the twenty-seventh floor together, where the elevator abruptly opened behind them on its own.

• Tang Baihe entered an elevator filled with flies and tainted blood, then panicked when an unseen figure seemed to enter and the ninth-floor button lit up with a bloody fingerprint.
• The elevator returned to the first floor, where Tang Baihe collided with Qin Manjiang and clung to him while security guards gathered.
• Tang Baihe described the ghostly elevator, but the security captain found it spotless; Qin Manjiang headed to the twenty-seventh floor, and Tang Baihe joined him.
• Qin Manjiang saw the elevator covered in fresh blood and considered resolving the paranormal incident for a one-time payment.
• Tang Baihe and Qin Manjiang reached the twenty-seventh floor, stepped into the quiet hallway, and watched the elevator doors open behind them by themselves.

Tang Baihe stayed late at Baihong and encountered Qin Manjiang while he patrolled the empty office floor. When the elevator sounded despite neither of them calling it, Qin Manjiang grabbed her wrist and told her to stay quiet.

• Qin Manjiang received an access pass and was told he could look around the twenty-seventh floor until the end of the workday.
• Tang Baihe stayed late to review documents, then heard slow footsteps and saw a face pressed against the glass door.
• Qin Manjiang revealed himself, and Tang Baihe apologized for grabbing him in the elevator that morning and learned his name.
• Tang Baihe heard the elevator doors open, and Qin Manjiang tensed because he had not called it.
• Qin Manjiang grabbed Tang Baihe's wrist and put a finger to his lips, telling her not to speak.

Qin Manjiang and Tang Baihe hid from a supernatural presence in the Baihong Building and escaped down the stairs. Outside, Qin Manjiang suspected the entity had left the ninth floor to search for something on the twenty-seventh.

• Qin Manjiang pulled Tang Baihe into the advertising department and hid with her as strange footsteps and dragging sounds approached.
• The sounds passed the office, and Qin Manjiang led Tang Baihe out into the corridor after they receded.
• Qin Manjiang saw a blood trail leading from the elevator, while Tang Baihe could not see it, and he stopped her from entering the blood-splattered elevator.
• Qin Manjiang and Tang Baihe took the stairs down and escaped the Baihong Building.
• Qin Manjiang recalled the bloody fingerprint on the ninth-floor button and wondered why the entity had searched the twenty-seventh floor.