Chapter Summaries

After escaping the building’s ghost, Qin Manjiang helped Tang Baihe report the incident and drove her home. A call from Xi Wutong revealed that Nie Yunzhen had been murdered in Moon City twenty years ago, leaving Qin uneasy about the clues drawing him there.

• Tang Baihe decided to report the strange events in the building to the police, and Qin Manjiang agreed to take her home.
• On the drive, Tang Baihe learned that Qin Manjiang had dropped out of Fucheng University and encouraged him to return.
• Xi Wutong told Qin Manjiang that Nie Yunzhen was the victim of the Moon City March 7 Dismemberment Case and had been confirmed dead twenty years earlier.
• Qin Manjiang recalled that Nie Yunzhen had received zero Spirit Pupil reward in the Yellow Springs Opera and wondered whether she was human.
• Qin Manjiang declined Tang Baihe’s invitation to come upstairs and left with Moon City weighing on his mind.

After Qin Manjiang’s Relic Phone detected a ghost intrusion around Tang Baihe, she climbed the apartment stairs and realized something was following her. She texted Qin Manjiang for help as she continued toward the eighth floor.

• Qin Manjiang’s Relic Phone lit up and identified Tang Baihe as a Spirit Pupil holder while warning that a ghost intrusion was taking shape.
• Qin Manjiang sensed Tang Baihe was in danger and received her text asking for help on the stairs.
• Tang Baihe, wary of the elevator after the day’s events, chose to climb the dim, sound-activated stairwell.
• Tang Baihe heard footsteps behind her and kept climbing without looking back as they continued to follow.
• Tang Baihe texted Qin Manjiang for help and pressed on, hoping he would arrive before the presence caught her.

Tang Baihe escaped the ghost chasing her by reaching the third-floor hallway, where two residents opened their doors. After the residents left her alone in the elevator, it turned hostile and carried her toward the ninth floor, while Qin Manjiang arrived at the first-floor lobby and saw half of a familiar corpse fall from the shaft.

• Tang Baihe noticed two sets of footsteps approaching and ran into the third-floor hallway, where she pounded on apartment doors to bring residents out.
• Two residents opened their doors, causing the ghost’s reaching arm to disappear, and Tang Baihe told them an attacker had chased her.
• Tang Baihe went with the residents to the elevator, but they stepped out to close their apartment doors and the elevator doors slammed shut.
• Tang Baihe’s elevator descended through flickering red lights and the smell of rotting flesh, then opened between the first and second floors.
• The ninth-floor button lit by itself, the elevator doors closed, and the car accelerated upward as half of a bloody corpse fell away.
• 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 lost control of his body and used the Pupil Realm (Fu City) to create a new Ghost Story Game, recruiting his former class representative Qiao Ziruo. At Fucheng University, Qiao Ziruo activated the game and received the Lost Item story set in Baihong Building.

• Qin Manjiang found Tang Baihe dead and blamed himself for her death.
• Qin Manjiang's body moved against his will, and he tapped Yes on the Pupil Realm (Fu City) to create a new Ghost Story Game.
• The Pupil Realm recruited Qiao Ziruo and scheduled her game to begin on September 29 at 6 p.m.
• Qin Manjiang realized Qiao Ziruo might be his former class representative from Fucheng University.
• Qiao Ziruo found a ghost-faced app on her phone, entered the codename Ziruo, and activated Personal Mode.
• Qiao Ziruo received the Lost Item story about strange footsteps at Baihong Building in Fu City Central District.

After Tang Baihe’s corpse vanished from ordinary perception, Qin Manjiang learned that Qiao Ziruo had already entered the Ghost Story Game and resolved to protect her. He suspected he was a new consciousness inside Jiang Du’s body, but vowed to keep control of his own life, while Lin and a man in a white coat observed that the body had awakened.

• Qin Manjiang watched residents ignore Tang Baihe’s corpse and left the apartment building as the Vengeful Ghost erased her presence from the world.
• Qin Manjiang called Qiao Ziruo and warned her not to open the strange app, but she had already seen its demand that she go to Baihong Building by six the next evening or be erased.
• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo to rest and promised to wait outside the school gates in the morning, then angrily vowed not to surrender his body or sensations to anyone.
• Qin Manjiang connected Jiang Du to the body’s original owner and suspected that he himself was a new consciousness created inside it.
• In an underground laboratory, Lin confirmed that the body had activated, and the man in the white coat told him to help Qin Manjiang and act as one of his watchers.

After Nie Yunzhen left Qin Manjiang a cryptic warning and disappeared, Qin Manjiang confronted the possibility that Jiang Du was influencing his body, then dreamed of a version of himself crawling out of his throat. He woke with greater control over his body and discovered the date was September 29, signaling that something was beginning.

• Qin Manjiang returned home and found Nie Yunzhen gone, with a note telling him to stay alive and saying she had remembered something she needed to finish.
• Mi Qiao told Qin Manjiang that Nie Yunzhen had left about two hours earlier, around the time Xi Wutong called him.
• Qin Manjiang looked in the mirror, accused Jiang Du of trying to take over, and saw a horrifying vision of an identical person crawling out of his mouth.
• Qin Manjiang woke from the nightmare and realized he had spoken freely, unlike before when his body's limitations had restrained him.
• Qin Manjiang checked his phone and saw that it was September 29 at 8:54 a.m.

Qin Manjiang woke before his usual time and found that he could finally control his body without its restrictions, which he connected to the Ghost Story Game involving Qiao Ziruo. He met Qiao at Fucheng University and told her she could not escape the game, but promised to take responsibility.

• Qin Manjiang realized he had regained awareness before 7:30 and could act freely, and he suspected the change was linked to his body creating a Ghost Story Game and involving Qiao Ziruo.
• Qin Manjiang recalled how he had struggled against his body's imposed personality and hoped his newfound control would help him find Li Xijiu.
• Qiao Ziruo's roommates questioned why she was skipping class, and she made an awkward excuse about a job interview.
• Qiao Ziruo answered Qin Manjiang's call and went to meet him at the university gates.
• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo that she could not escape the game and promised to take responsibility for her.

Qin Manjiang explained the Ghost Story Game to Qiao Ziruo and helped her analyze the clues for her Beginner Level at Baihong Building. After researching the building and finding no reported incidents, they waited outside until the game began.

• Qin Manjiang told Qiao Ziruo that ghosts and the Ghost Story Game were real, and promised to help her.
• Qiao Ziruo showed Qin Manjiang the Opening Lines for the Lost Item ghost story at Baihong Building.
• Qin Manjiang helped Qiao Ziruo infer that the ghost had wandered the building without harming employees, but warned her not to rely on that hypothesis.
• Qin Manjiang and Qiao Ziruo researched Baihong Building and learned it belonged to the Bai family and housed businesses on many floors.
• Qiao Ziruo sensed someone watching her outside Baihong Building, and Qin Manjiang advised her not to enter before the game started.

Qiao Ziruo entered Baihong Building to investigate the Ghost Story Game while Qin Manjiang was barred from entering by a blood-red boundary. She headed toward the twenty-seventh floor, but the elevator stopped at the ninth floor, where a brick wall appeared behind the doors.

• At the building entrance, a blood-red line threw Qin Manjiang back outside as Qiao Ziruo entered Baihong Building.
• Qin Manjiang and Qiao Ziruo agreed to stay in contact by phone while he watched the game begin from outside.
• Qiao Ziruo waited for an elevator, then asked a security guard to accompany her to the twenty-seventh floor because she claimed to have claustrophobia.
• In the elevator, Qiao Ziruo spotted a blood-red fingerprint on the ninth-floor button and learned that the floor was vacant.
• The elevator stopped at the ninth floor, and its doors opened onto a wall made of red and white bricks.

Qiao Ziruo and a security guard escaped the trapped elevator onto the unfinished ninth floor, but she refused to leave with him. She believed the ghost was still searching for her and stayed behind for reasons she had not yet explained.

• A strange voice came through the guard’s radio, and Qiao Ziruo smashed it after noticing its indicator light had not turned on.
• Qiao Ziruo reasoned that the ghost could not sense her location yet, but feared it would discover the elevator was stopped on the ninth floor.
• The guard kicked down the brick wall behind the elevator doors, and Qiao Ziruo and the guard stepped onto the unfinished floor.
• The guard switched on his flashlight and headed for the stairwell, calling for Qiao Ziruo to follow.
• Qiao Ziruo thanked him but told him to go without her because she could not leave.

Qiao Ziruo searched the dark ninth floor of Baihong Building for clues about the ghost, while Qin Manjiang waited outside, unable to help her. When the ghost reached the floor, Qiao Ziruo hid behind a pillar, and its footsteps stopped on the other side.

• Qin Manjiang waited outside Baihong Building for Qiao Ziruo’s call and worried that the Ghost Story Game had drawn her in because of him.
• Qiao Ziruo explored the unrenovated ninth floor, reasoning that she needed to identify the ghost and discover what it was searching for.
• Qiao Ziruo heard footsteps and something being dragged up the fire escape, then realized the ghost might have followed the elevator’s display to the ninth floor.
• Qiao Ziruo hid in darkness behind a load-bearing pillar, but the ghost’s footsteps stopped on the other side.

Qiao Ziruo hid from the Vengeful Ghost on the Ninth Floor and tried to escape by matching its footsteps as she moved around a pillar. She realized the ghost had found her through her shadow, then discovered its severed head and spine had been dragging behind its walking body.

• Qiao Ziruo hid behind a load-bearing pillar and listened as the Vengeful Ghost moved nearby.
• Qiao Ziruo timed her steps to the ghost’s footsteps and successfully moved around the pillar without being heard.
• The ghost stopped moving, and Qiao Ziruo realized her shadow had exposed her in the moonlight.
• Qiao Ziruo turned and saw the ghost’s severed head attached to a bloody spine at her heels.
• Qiao Ziruo realized the dragging sound came from the head and spine trailing behind the ghost’s legs.

Qiao Ziruo faced the Vengeful Ghost on the ninth floor of the Baihong Building, but Qin Manjiang used a helicopter’s powerful lights to give her a chance to escape. She chose to retreat and return later, while Qin Manjiang revealed to Yang that the Game was a side story he had accidentally triggered.

• Qiao Ziruo froze in terror when she saw the Vengeful Ghost’s bloody head and spine on the ninth floor.
• Qin Manjiang illuminated the floor from a helicopter and warned Qiao Ziruo that the ghost perceived light and darkness oppositely.
• Qiao Ziruo ran toward the emergency stairwell, intending to return later and find what the ghost was searching for.
• Qin Manjiang revealed that he had called Yang, who flew the helicopter and brought Bai family members to the Baihong Building.
• Yang asked Qin Manjiang about the month-long Ghost Story Game system upgrade, and Qin Manjiang said the Game was a side story he had accidentally triggered.

Qin Manjiang questioned Yang about his past and asked if he was about to die, while Qiao Ziruo went to the surveillance room to identify the ghost pursuing her. Qiao Ziruo began reviewing footage, but the chapter left her alone with Lao Zhang as danger approached.

• Yang told Qin Manjiang that the Ten Seats appeared after the Ghost Story Game upgraded its system following Yang's arrival.
• Yang said Qin Manjiang had changed, and Qin Manjiang blamed it on having driven another personality out of his body.
• Qin Manjiang asked Yang if he was about to die.
• Qiao Ziruo returned to the first floor and asked a security guard to take her to the surveillance room so she could identify the ghost from the footage.
• The young guard warned Lao Zhang to be careful, then left as Lao Zhang began pulling up footage from the building's hallways.

Qiao Ziruo found the half-bodied Vengeful Ghost on the security footage and realized it might be searching for its missing upper body. After the ghost killed the old security guard, she recognized its elevator-maintenance trousers and suspected its body was in the elevator shaft, then saw a possible clue to why it had not attacked her earlier.

• Qiao Ziruo searched the surveillance footage and spotted the Vengeful Ghost dragging its spine and head through a dark corridor.
• The ghost approached the surveillance room after the old security guard spoke, and Qiao Ziruo searched the room for a way to defend herself.
• Qiao Ziruo found a high-powered flashlight, but the old security guard struck her with his baton and took it.
• The ghost entered, and the old security guard shone the flashlight toward it; the ghost killed him by making him strangle himself.
• Qiao Ziruo noticed the ghost wore elevator-maintenance trousers and suspected its missing upper body lay at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
• As the ghost turned toward her, Qiao Ziruo realized it had seen her before without attacking and wondered whether it had been confirming something.

Qiao Ziruo realized the Vengeful Ghost might attack only after seeing her face, so she turned her back to it and waited. Outside, Yang told Qin Manjiang he planned to pursue a chance to leave the Ghost Story Game and asked him to help the others find a way forward if he died.

• Qiao Ziruo inferred that the Vengeful Ghost could not recognize its own upper body from behind, and she turned away to avoid showing it her face.
• The Old Security Guard died from suffocation while Qiao Ziruo stood motionless, hoping her theory would keep her alive.
• Qin Manjiang deduced that Yang was preparing to take on a challenge that might unlock a way to leave the game.
• Yang explained that he wanted to give others hope, inspired by someone who had died, and believed the game needed a finish line.
• Yang told Qin Manjiang he would pursue the chance to leave even if it might be a trap, and asked him to help everyone find another way if he died.

Yang explained that Spirit Pupils were human eyes capable of seeing ghosts and showed Qin Manjiang the horrific world he perceived. Yang wondered which version of reality was real, and Qin Manjiang discovered that the ghost story “Lost Item” had been cleared.

• Yang asked Qin Manjiang what Spirit Pupils were, and Qin realized they might be human eyes that ghosts seized to form ghost stories.
• Yang confirmed that Spirit Pupils belonged to people who could see ghosts and explained that accumulating them made players perceive more of the supernatural world.
• Yang touched Qin’s shoulder, letting Qin briefly see Fu City as a ruined place beneath an enormous eyeball, with distorted people and buildings.
• Yang told Qin that he could no longer distinguish the real world from the world he saw and wondered whether the ghosts were people living under different rules.
• Qin shook Yang out of his troubled state, and Yang said he wanted to clear the game to discover which world was real.
• Qin opened [Eye Realm] and saw the message that the ghost story “Lost Item” had been cleared.

After Qiao Ziruo survived the game, Qin Manjiang discovered that his Spirit Pupil points as a Proxy and as Abyss were combined, and that he could redeem permanent items. He brought the unconscious Qiao Ziruo home, while Yang’s revelation about Spirit Pupils left him questioning what the Ghost Story Game was building toward.

• Qin Manjiang found that his Proxy and Abyss Spirit Pupil points were combined, totaling one hundred, and opened the Permanent Item page.
• Qin Manjiang caught Qiao Ziruo when she collapsed outside the Baihong Building and realized Yang had disappeared.
• Qin Manjiang carried the feverish Qiao Ziruo home, where Mi Qiao reluctantly helped look after her.
• Qin Manjiang reflected on Yang’s vision and wondered whether Spirit Pupils altered perception as well as revealing abnormalities.
• Qin Manjiang considered what the world would look like if one person possessed all the Spirit Pupils collected by the Ghost Story Game.

Zhong Xueran experienced nested dreams in which the world’s colors were distorted and her face appeared badly rotted, then woke to find a call record from the future before waking again. After confirming with Xu Yi that she was awake, he wondered whether she had begun seeing it too, while Qin Manjiang exchanged one hundred Spirit Pupils for a permanent item.

• Zhong Xueran dreamed that the world’s colors had changed and that the people around her turned toward her with malicious smiles.
• Zhong Xueran woke and found a call to Yang listed at 7:56 a.m., even though her phone showed 7:45, before seeing her rotted face reflected on the screen.
• Zhong Xueran woke from another dream, found no call record, and phoned Xu Yi, who asked whether she had noticed changes in what she saw.
• Xu Yi smiled after Zhong Xueran hung up, then wondered whether she had started seeing it too.
• Qin Manjiang used the [Eye Realm] to exchange one hundred Spirit Pupils for a permanent item.

Qin Manjiang endured a painful redemption process and received a Permanent Item in the form of a doll resembling himself. He learned that it could remove a Vengeful Ghost’s identified ability at the cost of one of his positive emotions, but failure would burden him with one of the ghost’s negative emotions, so he chose not to use it.

• Qin Manjiang’s redemption plunged him into an eerie red realm, where a storm of painful emotions and voices made him collapse and lose consciousness.
• Qin Manjiang woke at noon with a palm-sized doll that looked like him and discovered it was his Permanent Item, named “Me.”
• Qin Manjiang read the item’s description and learned it could permanently eliminate one identified ability of a Vengeful Ghost, sacrificing one of his positive emotions if successful.
• Qin Manjiang learned that a failed attempt would permanently give him one of the ghost’s negative emotions, and he worried that this could turn him into a ghost.
• Qin Manjiang put the doll away and wondered what price Yang’s scene-reversing Permanent Item carried.