Chapter Summaries

Lin Hanzhi paid respects to his dead family in the memorial hall, then helped Qi Gu find clothes to borrow. After Qi Gu left, Lin Hanzhi realized he hoped Qi Gu would notice his pain and choose to reach out to him.

• Miao Yue tried to arrange chances for Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu to interact, but Qi Gu stayed in his room and went to bed.
• Lin Hanzhi corrected two misplaced spirit tablets in the memorial hall, lit incense, and mourned his deceased relatives.
• Lin Hanzhi returned to his room, where he looked through childhood keepsakes and memories of his family and fallen teammates.
• Qi Gu visited Lin Hanzhi to borrow clothes and learned that Lin Hanzhi was much taller than he had assumed.
• Lin Hanzhi showed Qi Gu his wardrobe and accessories, then watched him leave and wished he would discover Lin Hanzhi's despair and offer help.

Qi Gu traveled with Lin Hanzhi and Mu Xingchen to Huai Shui Village, where they would investigate ghosts for the production team. Lin Hanzhi’s considerate gestures delighted Qi Gu, while Mu Xingchen struggled to recite his lessons.

• Qi Gu enjoyed breakfast at Lin Hanzhi’s home, and Master Mo packed food for their journey.
• Mu Xingchen joined Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi at the airport, and Lin Hanzhi was pleased to hear Qi Gu had spent the night with a friend.
• On the flight, Mu Xingchen asked about Huai Shui Village, and Qi Gu warned that some vicious ghosts hid themselves well.
• Lin Hanzhi gave Qi Gu dessert, promised to supervise Mu Xingchen’s studying, and watched Qi Gu sleep.
• When the plane neared its destination, Lin Hanzhi revealed he had ordered Qi Gu another cake, and Qi Gu warmly praised him.

Qi Gu and the guests arrived at Huai Shui Village under the cover of a charity visit, where they met a desperate farmer whose child had leukemia. The farmer led them toward his home after Fang Heng promised to help with the medical bills, though the farmer’s fearful behavior suggested something else was wrong.

• Song An introduced new guests Miao Yue and Fang Heng, who joined the trip so Qi Gu could help him search for his missing son, Fang Yuanwang.
• The group agreed to pose as poverty relief workers and traveled on foot along the narrow road to Huai Shui Village.
• A villager tried to kowtow to Fang Heng, but Qi Gu spotted glass on the ground and Miao Yue stopped the man before he injured himself.
• The villager explained that his child had leukemia and that he could not afford the next medical payment, so Fang Heng and the others helped clear weeds from his field.
• The farmer led the group toward his home and bought cold drinks at the village shop, lingering over the chilled bottles before wiping away the dirt on them.

A poor villager told Qi Gu, Fang Heng, and Lin Hanzhi how his ten-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with acute leukemia and how the family struggled to find money for treatment. Lin Hanzhi offered to transfer money to the hospital, and the villager brought out his daughter’s medical records.

• The villager welcomed the production crew into his dilapidated home and offered them soft drinks before explaining his daughter’s illness.
• He described how his daughter fainted, was diagnosed with acute leukemia, and was sent from the town hospital to hospitals in the city and provincial capital.
• The villager and his wife refused to give up on treatment and borrowed money from others, including a neighboring couple who had lost their own child.
• Lin Hanzhi asked which hospital the daughter was in and offered to arrange an initial money transfer.
• The villager took out his daughter’s medical records and shared them with the crew.

Lin Hanzhi and the others paid for the village couple’s daughter’s treatment and accepted a meal in return, then learned the village’s warnings about unclean things at night. Qi Gu dismissed the rules as unreliable and the group planned to seek out the village chief, while Lin Hanzhi tried to lure a passing child with candy to get directions.

• Lin Hanzhi arranged for Jing Ping to transfer enough money to cover the couple’s daughter’s treatment, and the grateful couple cooked local specialty noodles for the group.
• After the group ate, the couple warned them about unclean things at night and listed rules, including staying indoors after eight and avoiding the great pagoda tree and the graveyard.
• Qi Gu questioned the rules’ reliability, and the group decided to visit the village chief for more trustworthy information.
• Lin Hanzhi called to a passing child and held out a toffee to get the child’s attention, leaving Qi Gu reminded of how Lin Hanzhi had treated him.

Lin Hanzhi and the others visited Huai Shui Village’s wealthy village chief, where Fang Heng revealed that he had returned to donate money and search for his son, Fang Yuanwang. Village Chief Xu reacted with alarm and tried to drive them out, while his daughter-in-law Qian Chunhua came downstairs after the commotion woke her.

• Lin Hanzhi questioned a village child about the village chief’s home and shared toffee with Qi Gu and the others.
• The group reached the village chief’s tiled two-story house, and Mu Xingchen introduced them as representatives of a poverty alleviation foundation.
• Village Chief Xu refused their offer of help until Fang Heng recognized him as the former volunteer teacher and persuaded him to let them inside.
• Fang Heng told Village Chief Xu that he had come to donate money and look for his son, Fang Yuanwang.
• Village Chief Xu accused Fang Heng of coming to take revenge on the village and tried to drive everyone out with a broom.
• Qian Chunhua came downstairs after the noise woke her, and Village Chief Xu continued forcing the visitors from the main room.

Qi Gu and his companions questioned Village Chief Xu and discovered that his supposed daughter-in-law, Qian Chunhua, was a male weasel in disguise who had bewitched him for chicken. The weasel revealed that its chicken-blood wards had kept a more dangerous creature from targeting the village chief.

• Miao Yue subdued Village Chief Xu, and Qi Gu questioned him about Huai Shui Village and why he had helped the group.
• Village Chief Xu offered the guests rooms and explained that his son had paid to renovate the house, while he had kept his son away from the village.
• Qi Gu told Miao Yue to restrain Qian Chunhua and challenged Village Chief Xu to reconsider whether she was truly his daughter-in-law.
• Village Chief Xu found a chick wrapped in swaddling cloth and realized he had mistaken a chicken for his grandson.
• Qian Chunhua transformed into a giant weasel, but Miao Yue knocked out its sharp teeth and forced it to shrink back down.
• The weasel admitted it had bewitched Village Chief Xu to get chicken and said its chicken-blood wards had protected him from a dangerous creature.

The weasel explained that it had been protecting Village Chief Xu because it loved his chickens, then cooked two for Qi Gu and Miao Yue. Meanwhile, Wan Wei rushed her sick baby to the hospital, giving her husband Zhuang Youzhi a chance to meet his male lover and discuss their plan to have children through their marriages before divorcing their wives.

• The weasel told Village Chief Xu that it had splashed chicken blood at his door to keep the patrol away, then praised his chickens and agreed to cook some for Qi Gu and Miao Yue.
• The weasel refused to stew its supposed grandson and instead caught two chickens to make soup and roast chicken.
• Wan Wei watched Investigating the Strange and ordered food while trying to distract herself from hunger and dieting.
• Zhuang Youzhi told Wan Wei that their baby had loose stools and that he had an important dinner, so she canceled her food order and took the child to the hospital.
• Zhuang Youzhi dressed in Wan Wei's clothes, went to a car outside the residential complex, and had sex with his male lover.
• Zhuang Youzhi and his lover discussed waiting until their wives had children before divorcing them and living together as a family.

Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi shared a sweet moment while shelling sunflower seeds, and Lin Hanzhi became flustered after touching Qi Gu’s lips. The others continued their game as Miao Yue watched the pair and privately teased Lin Hanzhi for his obvious feelings.

• Village Chief Xu and Fang Heng talked about what had happened over the years while Qi Gu sat with Lin Hanzhi shelling sunflower seeds.
• Lin Hanzhi shelled seeds for Qi Gu, and Mu Xingchen tried to leave his game to do the same before Miao Yue made him sit back down.
• Lin Hanzhi fed Qi Gu a plump sunflower seed and accidentally brushed and pressed Qi Gu’s lower lip.
• Lin Hanzhi grew flustered when Qi Gu licked his lip, then claimed he was hot and went to wash his face.
• Miao Yue watched Lin Hanzhi leave and privately mocked him for blushing after touching Qi Gu’s lips.

Qi Gu shared the weasel’s delicious roast chicken with the group, then agreed to accompany Fang Heng to Huai Shui Elementary School to investigate his son’s past. There, Fang Heng met Bai Yu, Fang Yuanwang’s former colleague, and went with her to see the room where his son had lived.

• The weasel served roast chicken, and Qi Gu shared most of it with the group while saving chicken breast for Lin Hanzhi.
• After finishing his meal, Qi Gu agreed to accompany Fang Heng to see his son and the school where Fang Yuanwang’s wife had taught.
• Village Chief Xu led the group to Huai Shui Elementary School, where Bai Yu was giving summer lessons to local children.
• Bai Yu recognized Fang Heng’s resemblance to Fang Yuanwang, and Fang Heng asked her to show him his son’s room.
• Mu Xingchen offered to watch the children while Bai Yu led Fang Heng and Village Chief Xu to the dormitory.

During the school visit, Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu discovered that a boy had made a paper gravestone for Teacher Fang, whose soul seemed to be inside it. As Qi Gu took the gravestone to investigate, Miao Yue found a girl drinking filthy water filled with fish fry and debris.

• Mu Xingchen and Pubu Gesang introduced themselves to the children and began interacting with them.
• Lin Hanzhi coaxed a boy into showing the paper gravestone he had made for Teacher Fang and learned he had left candy there as an offering.
• Qi Gu sensed traces of a human soul in the gravestone and told the boy he could save Teacher Fang if the boy gave it to him.
• The boy handed the gravestone to Qi Gu after warning him to protect it from creases and rain.
• Miao Yue called Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi over after a girl explained that the murky water in her bottle was for drinking, then drank it along with the fish fry and debris.

Qi Gu and the others discovered that Huai Shui Village’s children drank water filled with baleful matter because their parents had taught them to do so, and Qi Gu found that it had partly displaced one girl’s soul. Miao Yue found Fang Yuanwang’s old lesson-planning notebook, and Bai Yu admitted she still used it.

• Qi Gu, Lin Hanzhi, and Miao Yue saw that a girl’s belly had swollen after she drank contaminated water, while the other children revealed that their bottles held the same substance.
• The children said their parents taught them to drink the water and performed the Water Sacrifice, so Qi Gu decided to question Fang Yuanwang before trying to help them.
• Qi Gu discovered that baleful matter had taken over half the girl’s soul and said the group would return to deal with the children later.
• Lin Hanzhi checked that Qi Gu could keep his emotions from clouding his judgment, and Qi Gu said he could distinguish his feelings from the children’s suffering.
• Miao Yue found Fang Yuanwang’s lesson-planning notebook in the back of the classroom and suspected Bai Yu had loved him.
• Bai Yu arrived with a tearful Fang Heng, took the notebook from Miao Yue, and said she still used some of Fang Yuanwang’s lessons.

Qi Gu discovered that Fang Yuanwang’s soul was linked to Bai Yu by a murderous thread rather than a marriage bond, casting suspicion on her role in the village. As the group continued investigating, Lin Hanzhi hid the worsening pain from his torn soul and leaned on Qi Gu for support.

• Bai Yu recalled her close, unspoken feelings for Fang Yuanwang as Qi Gu inspected her lesson-planning notebook and found nothing unusual.
• Fang Heng reported that Fang Yuanwang’s dormitory had been kept clean and arranged according to his habits, and he hoped the pair could be reunited.
• Qi Gu revealed that he had found part of Fang Yuanwang’s soul and saw a line of murderous enmity between Fang Yuanwang and Bai Yu.
• Qi Gu said Bai Yu was a practitioner concealing her abilities, while Miao Yue offered to kill her and Qi Gu insisted they needed more clues first.
• Pubu Gesang wondered whether the village shop’s candy was safe, and Lin Hanzhi grew exasperated by his children’s behavior.
• Lin Hanzhi’s soul pain intensified, and he wrapped an arm around Qi Gu’s neck and asked to lean on him for a while.

Qi Gu formed a protective barrier around the village chief's house and set out with Mu Xingchen to test the village's rules, while Lin Hanzhi insisted on coming along. The group split up to investigate the dark village, and Qi Gu's team headed out with Mu Xingchen serving as bait for ghosts.

• Qi Gu refused to give Lin Hanzhi bitter medicine, drew him a pain-relieving talisman, and later took chicken blood to make a protective formation around the village chief's house.
• Qi Gu told everyone to stay inside the barrier, then chose Mu Xingchen to accompany him and test whether the village rules were true.
• Miao Yue proposed splitting into two teams, and Lin Hanzhi persuaded Qi Gu to let him join despite his recent illness.
• The five investigators split into two groups, started livestreaming, and set off into the dark village.
• Mu Xingchen nervously hurried after Qi Gu, who told him to be less afraid while walking with Lin Hanzhi holding his wrist.

Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi tested the pagoda tree rule, letting Mu Xingchen encounter a hanged ghost before he captured her. At the stone mill, Miao Yue helped Mu Xingchen grind soybeans, but blood dripped into the finished soy milk, and Qi Gu turned his attention to the mill.

• Qi Gu had Mu Xingchen crouch beneath the pagoda tree to test its rule, and a hanged ghost’s shoe touched his shoulder before Mu Xingchen noticed her.
• Qi Gu explained that the ghost could not harm Mu Xingchen yet, and Mu Xingchen captured her in the Mini Gourd after she told them she had settled at the tree three years earlier.
• Qi Gu connected the ghost’s arrival with the year Fang Yuanwang and Bai Yu came to Huai Shui Village as volunteer teachers.
• At the stone mill, Mu Xingchen struggled to grind the soaked soybeans while Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi watched.
• Miao Yue took over grinding and quickly filled a cup with soy milk, but two drops of blood fell into it.
• Qi Gu cursed the wasted food and looked toward the mill.

Qi Gu punished the Millstone Ghost for killing a person, while Mu Xingchen captured it and noticed Qi Gu’s mint scent, fueling viewers’ speculation about Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi. The group then tested a nighttime tiptoeing rule in an abandoned house, where approaching footsteps stopped outside just as Mu Xingchen peered through the door.

• Qi Gu struck the Millstone Ghost with talismans until it confessed to grinding a living person into minced meat, then bound it with a Thunderstrike Talisman.
• Qi Gu ordered Mu Xingchen to capture the ghost, and Mu Xingchen remarked on Qi Gu’s mint scent, prompting viewers to speculate that Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi lived together.
• Mu Xingchen and the others regrouped and tested rules around Huai Shui Village before reaching the rule that people had to walk on tiptoe indoors at night.
• Qi Gu sent Mu Xingchen to walk around an abandoned house while he and Lin Hanzhi waited outside, but nothing happened for an hour.
• Rain began, and footsteps approached the house before stopping; Mu Xingchen halted and leaned toward the door to look outside.

Miao Yue and Pubu Gesang joined Qi Gu and Mu Xingchen as synchronized water corpses surrounded the house. Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi connected the village’s strange events to two opposing supernatural forces and concluded that Bai Yu could explain the mysteries they had not yet solved.

• Miao Yue explained that she had followed the corpses from the graveyard, and Mu Xingchen opened the window to find them gathered outside.
• Qi Gu protected the house with an array, allowing the group to watch the synchronized corpses through the window.
• Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi identified Bai Yu as the person linking the village’s coincidences to the children’s transformation into corpses.
• Qi Gu explained that Bai Yu’s victims and the Water Sacrifice’s victims were chosen by opposing forces, which kept the two groups from affecting each other.
• Lin Hanzhi noted that the Water Sacrifice began only three years ago, while Fang Heng’s wife had died more than a decade earlier, and Qi Gu said Bai Yu might explain the gap and Fang Yuanwang’s survival.

Miao Yue used her Gu insects to control the water corpses, and Qi Gu led the group to the school dormitory to confront Bai Yu. He accused her of separating Fang Yuanwang’s memories from his remnant soul, but Bai Yu denied hiding him, leaving the group suspicious of her strange, stiff behavior.

• Miao Yue released Gu insects that controlled the water corpses, allowing the group to leave the hut safely.
• Qi Gu gave Lin Hanzhi a sheet of plastic to shield him from the yin-charged rain as they went to the dormitory.
• The group saw Bai Yu embracing a taller figure inside the dormitory, but the figure disappeared from view.
• Qi Gu confronted Bai Yu and said Fang Yuanwang’s body and a memoryless half of his soul were with her.
• Bai Yu denied Qi Gu’s accusations and challenged them to search her room, while her movements appeared stiff and unnatural.

Bai Yu’s memories revealed how she used evil arts to manipulate people, divided Fang Yuanwang’s soul, and deceived the half without memories. After recounting her actions to Qi Gu through a puppet, Bai Yu remained free, while Fang Yuanwang’s soul was still in danger.

• Bai Yu recalled that Cunning Ghost had taught her evil arts and sent her to Huai Shui Village to resume an old plan.
• Bai Yu met Fang Yuanwang and tested him, but he showed her kindness and never revealed the cruel side she expected.
• After Fang Yuanwang died in a mudslide while saving a boy, Bai Yu used a forbidden spell to keep his soul in a living state.
• When Fang Yuanwang refused her, Bai Yu split his soul, trapped the half with memories behind a paper gravestone, and lied to the amnesiac half about their life together.
• Bai Yu ended her bargain with Cunning Ghost so the Bureau would investigate Huai Shui Village, hoping its members could save Fang Yuanwang.
• The puppet posing as Bai Yu turned into stone after telling Qi Gu the story, while the real Bai Yu stayed elsewhere.

Qi Gu exposed Bai Yu’s substitute and rescued Fang Yuanwang, then brought him back to the village chief’s house to restore his soul. Fang Heng saw his son again, though Fang Yuanwang remained unconscious.

• Qi Gu identified Bai Yu’s stone figure as a substitute made with the Blindfolding Technique and reported her to Director Sang Ma, who ordered a nationwide warrant.
• Mu Xingchen helped move Fang Yuanwang, and Qi Gu said they needed to return to the village chief’s house to fuse his soul without worsening his injuries.
• Miao Yue carried Fang Yuanwang back to the village chief’s house while Fang Heng waited anxiously through the night.
• Village Chief Xu tried to reassure Fang Heng, who remembered raising Fang Yuanwang and grieving after learning of his supposed death.
• Fang Heng rushed to Miao Yue when she arrived with Fang Yuanwang and gently touched his son’s pale cheek.