Chapter Summaries

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan linked Qian Qiang’s death to two other corpses marked by yin energy and investigated the case at Qian Qiang’s villa. Lin Youqi described how an elderly ghost killed Qian Qiang, but his account seemed suspicious, and Si Yan learned that Qian Qiang’s body was at the crematorium.

• Qi Lin reported that Qian Qiang had died under circumstances resembling those of the two corpses, and Jiang Nuo and Si Yan decided to investigate his case first.
• At Qian Qiang’s villa, Lin Youqi greeted Jiang Nuo and Si Yan and asked to join the Dao Xuan Association.
• Lin Youqi said an elderly ghost had pushed Qian Qiang down the stairs, and that he had killed the ghost after arriving too late to save him.
• Jiang Nuo tested the distance from the stairs while Si Yan questioned Lin Youqi about Qian Qiang’s recent nightmares and phone calls.
• Lin Youqi left for a gathering, telling Si Yan that Qian Qiang’s body was at the crematorium, and Si Yan remarked that Lin Youqi had acted quickly to deal with the corpse.

Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, and Song Zheng connected Lin Youqi to the night Zhang Da died and uncovered a curse and a box of prize redemption cards in the old man's room. The clues suggested the old-man ghost might also have been a victim, so the group headed to Zhang Da's house.

• Jiang Nuo found fan photos of Lin Youqi and learned from Song Zheng that they were taken near the road where Zhang Da had died.
• Jiang Nuo guessed Lin Youqi had been one of Zhang Da's passengers, and Song Zheng concluded Lin Youqi had lied about his nightmares.
• Jiang Nuo summoned the old man's wandering soul, which warned that the house held a lethal curse before Jiang Nuo sealed it in a soul-gathering bottle.
• Song Zheng found a hidden box containing redemption cards for major prizes, and Si Yan identified them as likely belonging to the old-man ghost.
• Jiang Nuo suspected the old-man ghost was another victim, and Song Zheng said he would check the villa's purchase records before the group went to Zhang Da's house.

Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, and Song Zheng questioned Zhang Da's Wife and uncovered inconsistencies in her story about Zhang Da's lottery winnings. Their search revealed an Evil Spirit Mirror in the home, and Si Mingde reacted with alarm when they called him to identify it.

• Jiang Nuo noticed signs that furniture had been moved and spotted takeout containers from an expensive restaurant in Zhang Da's home.
• Si Yan caught Zhang Da's Wife naming costly dishes from the restaurant, and she claimed Zhang Da had won over two hundred thousand in the lottery.
• Jiang Nuo guessed that a malicious ghost was stealing people's good luck for someone else.
• Si Yan's detector sensed yin energy, and Jiang Nuo used blood and a talisman to reveal an Evil Spirit Mirror.
• Si Yan called Si Mingde, who recognized the mirror and reacted in alarm.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan investigated the Evil Spirit Mirror, which Si Mingde said could summon evil spirits that granted wishes for a price. After the mirror showed Si Yan disturbing visions about Jiang Nuo, a fan reported a strange crematorium haunting and then revealed that her sister had died by suicide in a way resembling ghost killings.

• Si Mingde explained that the Evil Spirit Mirror could summon evil spirits, and Jiang Nuo wondered if one demanded good luck in return for wishes.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan questioned Zhang Da's Wife, who knew nothing about the mirror but mentioned Zhang Da's two taxi-driver friends; Song Zheng planned to investigate them.
• Si Yan studied the mirror, which showed him bloody scenes of Jiang Nuo and warned that no one survived a catastrophe instance, causing the Save the Villain Plan progress to fall to 75%.
• Si Yan hid the mirror from Jiang Nuo and asked him not to ask about it before leaving to wash up.
• Jiang Nuo replied to a fan whose sister had been sleepwalking to a crematorium and whose home mirrors had turned cold and distorted.
• The fan told Jiang Nuo that her sister had killed herself and that the death looked like the ghost killings from the livestream.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan discussed the Evil Spirit Mirror while the online debate over a fan’s death grew. Zhou Ling investigated the bridal sedan and was transported inside it, where she chose to follow the ghosts carrying it into the mountains.

• Jiang Nuo sent Glutinous Rice Porridge Wanders a digital talisman and told Si Yan they would smash the Evil Spirit Mirror the next day.
• Si Yan asked Jiang Nuo not to believe whatever he saw in the mirror, and Jiang Nuo agreed without asking for an explanation.
• Lin Youqi posted in support of Jiang Nuo, keeping the argument about the fan’s death on the trending list.
• Zhou Ling drove alone along Zhang Da’s route, using an astrolabe to let the bridal sedan appear.
• Zhou Ling moved the sedan, saw the bride’s familiar face, and was transported inside it as malicious ghosts carried it into the mountains.
• Wu Chou contacted Zhou Ling through the association’s communication method, and she told him she was safe inside the bridal sedan.

Wu Chou and two police officers tracked Zhou Ling’s bridal sedan to the crematorium, where they entered after tying up the guards and losing contact with her. The next morning, Jiang Nuo and Si Yan met Xu Xi and her parents at the gates, where Jiang Nuo found that Xu Xi’s sister had been possessed by a ghost and that some of her soul remained; they were about to enter when cries came from the guard booth.

• Zhou Ling’s message led Wu Chou and the officers to identify the crematorium as the bridal sedan’s destination.
• Wu Chou and the officers tied up the guards, climbed over the wall, and entered a building where yin energy was gathering after Wu Chou lost contact with Zhou Ling.
• The next morning, Si Yan learned that the association members were searching the outskirts and that the previous night’s investigation had led to the crematorium.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan met Xu Xi and her parents at the crematorium, where Mr. Xu brought his dead daughter’s body and said he had worked there.
• Jiang Nuo determined that Xu Xi’s sister had been possessed more than once and that some remnants of her soul remained, then used a yin talisman to preserve them.
• As Jiang Nuo and the others approached the entrance, Xu Xi heard muffled cries from the guard booth and asked whether a ghost was there.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan investigated the crematorium after Zhou Ling and Wu Chou went missing, and learned of a rumored white door linked to disappearances. They summoned Xu Su’s soul, who remembered working overtime but not what happened to her, and she said she had never seen the white door.

• Jiang Nuo freed two guards tied up at the crematorium, and they said they had seen no one during the night.
• Jiang Nuo found Zhou Ling’s skeletal-hand accessory on the lawn, while Si Yan contacted the association to check on their spirit contracts.
• Mr. Xu revealed that crematorium employees had spoken of a white door that appeared at night, made people vanish, and erased memories of those who saw them.
• Si Yan learned from the association that Zhou Ling and the others were safe for now, and Jiang Nuo proposed summoning Xu Su’s soul.
• Si Yan summoned Xu Su’s soul, and she realized she was dead and that several days had passed without her remembering them.
• Xu Su recalled working overtime at the crematorium but said she had never seen the rumored white door.

Si Yan and Jiang Nuo investigated Evil Spirit Mirrors linked to several deaths, discovering that Yi Ran had been possessed by an evil spirit worshipper. The investigation led them to Yi Ran’s artist friend as a possible next host.

• Si Yan smashed a corridor mirror and found an Evil Spirit Mirror shard, while Xu Su explained that his luck had improved before an accident left him dead; Jiang Nuo told him he had three days and three nights to exist.
• Si Yan learned that Qian Qiang’s and Yi Ran’s homes contained Evil Spirit Mirrors, then found that Yi Ran’s room had been arranged as a sacrificial altar.
• Jiang Nuo identified Yi Ran’s bizarre wall decorations, including a human placenta that Su Min believed belonged to Yi Ran’s ex-girlfriend’s baby.
• Si Yan and Jiang Nuo examined Yi Ran’s sketchbook and concluded that an evil spirit worshipper had possessed him for months, sometimes leaving him lucid.
• Si Yan deduced that the possessing evil spirit worshipper had chosen a new host, and Su Min pointed to Yi Ran’s artist friend in the building opposite.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan investigated Yi Ran’s friend and used Jiang Nuo’s system to identify five people whose luck had been affected, including artist Peng Dong. They brought Peng Dong in for questioning, where he reacted evasively when Jiang Nuo told him Yi Ran had died.

• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan won over a fan across the hall, who said Yi Ran’s friend had warned her about the apartment’s changed feng shui and mentioned its resident had recently come into money.
• Si Yan ordered a citywide spiritual-energy scan, while Jiang Nuo redeemed a plugin that revealed five people with altered luck and shared their locations with him.
• Si Yan assigned people to follow the five suspects and went with Jiang Nuo to find Yi Ran’s artist friend.
• Association members brought Peng Dong in from a property sales office, and Jiang Nuo told him Yi Ran had died seven days earlier.
• Peng Dong claimed he had not seen Yi Ran in days, but his evasive response made his shock seem unconvincing.

Peng Dong revealed that the Good Luck Society met in a phantom room near the crematorium, while a member under the association’s watch mutated and vanished inside the compound. Jiang Nuo recognized the aberration as an old enemy, then the system announced that his third attempt at the hell-level six-star instance had failed and urged him to escape before it closed.

• Jiang Nuo told Peng Dong that four people had died after sudden good fortune, and Peng Dong confessed that he and Yi Ran had joined the Good Luck Society by calling a dreamed phone number.
• Peng Dong described meeting in an underground garage beside the crematorium, but Member Two pointed out that the crematorium had no garage or elevator; Jiang Nuo confirmed that the meeting-room door was white.
• Jiang Nuo determined that Peng Dong was not possessed, but the association reported that one of the four people in its custody had mutated and escaped, prompting Si Yan to rush back with Jiang Nuo and Peng Dong.
• At the association, Gu Shan and Qi Cang said the aberration was neither demon, ghost, nor human, and surveillance footage showed it pulling out and swallowing its own eye.
• Jiang Nuo reacted to the footage with scarlet eyes and called the aberration an old friend as the system declared his third attempt at the hell-level six-star instance a failure and warned him to escape before the instance closed.

Jiang Nuo feared that his return to the real world might still be an illusion, but Si Yan reassured him as the escaped aberrant creature appeared and split in two. Si Yan ordered the highest alert, and the Supreme Bureau warned the imperial capital to shelter while reports of the monster spread online.

• Jiang Nuo read the system's warning and wondered whether he was still trapped in the six-star instance, but Si Yan covered his eyes and told him the world was real.
• The aberrant creature appeared over the imperial capital, taunted Jiang Nuo, and split into two before leaving a thirty-six-hour countdown.
• Si Yan embraced the trembling Jiang Nuo and ordered the association to activate its highest alert, request an alert order from Number One, and recall personnel to search for the creatures.
• Ten minutes later, the Supreme Bureau took over internet-capable devices across the imperial capital and ordered everyone to shelter and distrust anyone but themselves.
• A witness's video showed the monster eating people, and residents shared the footage, reacted to the alert, and tagged Jiang Nuo to come stop the creatures.

Lin Youqi blamed Jiang Nuo for the aberrant monsters and provoked him online, while Si Yan helped Jiang Nuo regain his sense of reality. At the crematorium, Zhou Ling summoned a demonic phantom as Wu Chou escaped, and Jiang Nuo and Si Yan joined the fight as the monsters spread through the city.

• Lin Youqi accused Jiang Nuo of causing the deaths and spreading the aberrant monsters, and Jiang Nuo replied that Lin Youqi was next to die.
• Si Yan comforted Jiang Nuo as he recalled dying repeatedly in a six-star instance and struggled to believe that his current world was real.
• Jiang Nuo concluded that Lin Youqi was stirring up negative emotions to keep them from the Good Luck Society, and he and Si Yan decided to kill the monsters first.
• Zhou Ling used her magic and astrolabe to summon a demonic phantom at the crematorium, drawing the lord and believers' attention while Wu Chou escaped.
• The aberrant monsters spread across the city, but Jiang Nuo and Si Yan joined the association members in fighting them, and their numbers began to fall.

Wu Chou warned Jiang Nuo and Si Yan that a sorcerer working with Lin Youqi was preparing a citywide sacrifice and might come from the same place as Jiang Nuo. As Jiang Nuo and Si Yan split up to fight anomalies, Yu Ben watched a wounded girl crawl toward his apartment for help.

• Wu Chou returned to the association and told Jiang Nuo and Si Yan about the sacrificial ritual beneath the crematorium and Zhou Ling's message about the sorcerer.
• Jiang Nuo realized the sorcerer might be the one who confused an instance with reality, while Si Yan ordered Wu Chou to recall Ni Ling from Eagle Country.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan split up to handle the growing number of anomaly reports, and Jiang Nuo promised not to lose control before setting off.
• Yu Ben hid inside his apartment after losing his phone signal and heard an anomaly attack the girl across the hall.
• The girl, badly wounded and missing half her left leg, crawled toward Yu Ben's apartment and begged him for help.

Yu Ben hesitated to help a strange girl until Jiang Nuo arrived and exposed her as an Aberrant Monster. As the monsters split faster across the city, Si Yan realized mirrors were letting them multiply indefinitely.

• Yu Ben noticed the girl's unnatural eyes and held back from opening his door, but rushed outside when the tattooed resident tried to help her.
• Jiang Nuo leapt in through a fifteenth-floor window, killed the girl as she transformed into an Aberrant Monster, and warned the tattooed resident not to trust anyone during the alert.
• Jiang Nuo gave Yu Ben a yellow talisman and noticed that the negative-emotion mist had eased around him, then left to test whether reassuring residents could reduce it.
• Si Yan rescued an old man from several Aberrant Monsters, but saw a monster split into another after he killed it.
• Si Yan spotted the monsters reflected on a shopping mall screen and realized mirrors could let them split indefinitely.

Si Yan and Jiang Nuo rallied the imperial capital against the Aberrant Monsters by revealing their weakness and livestreaming the fight. As the residents joined in and the countdown continued, Adizi prepared to strike back.

• Si Yan destroyed the giant screen, stopping the Aberrant Monsters from splitting, then summoned the association members to the central plaza.
• Si Yan explained that reflective surfaces let the monsters split, while Jiang Nuo reported that reassuring residents could reduce the negative emotions feeding the underground monster.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan launched a livestream urging residents to smash mirrors, and the Supreme Bureau warned the city and announced a countdown to the arrival of light.
• Residents joined the fight by breaking reflective objects, while Jiang Nuo and Si Yan baited monsters into an encirclement and the city's negative emotions declined.
• Lin Youqi showed Adizi the livestream, and Adizi decided to teach Jiang Nuo and his allies a lesson.

Jiang Nuo appeared in Adizi’s basement while another Jiang Nuo remained on the livestream, disrupting Adizi’s plan to sacrifice the city. After Lin Youqi became the ritual’s first victim, Jiang Nuo confronted Adizi, who could not tell which Jiang Nuo was real.

• As the countdown abruptly lost twenty-four hours, Jiang Nuo and Si Yan continued fighting monsters while Ni Ling prepared to act.
• Jiang Nuo told viewers the monsters would be wiped out when the countdown ended, then used a smoke bomb to obscure the livestream.
• Adizi ordered his believers to begin the sacrifice, confident that Jiang Nuo was trapped in the instance and that he would survive and claim the top leaderboard spot.
• Jiang Nuo appeared in Adizi’s basement despite another Jiang Nuo being visible beside Si Yan on the livestream.
• Lin Youqi attacked Jiang Nuo, who threw him into the sacrificial formation, where Lin Youqi killed himself under the negative mist’s influence.
• Jiang Nuo turned to face Adizi, who asked who he was and said he had never seen him before.

Jiang Nuo fought Adizi, a challenger convinced they were trapped in a six-star instance, and discovered that Adizi was the supposedly unkillable Loach Monster. The battle ended with Adizi demanding that Jiang Nuo help him clear the instance and return to reality.

• Adizi accused Jiang Nuo of forgetting their past encounters and claimed the system had promised him freedom if he destroyed the city.
• Adizi crushed a bead and sent his believers to attack Jiang Nuo, who subdued them with gunfire and a red cord.
• After seeing Si Yan defeat the Aberrant Monster on the livestream, Adizi attacked Jiang Nuo in a desperate bid to win.
• Jiang Nuo fought back with a dagger, slashing Adizi's neck and nearly separating his head from his body.
• Jiang Nuo recognized Adizi as the Loach Monster, who could regenerate as long as his brain survived.
• Adizi reattached his head and urged Jiang Nuo to help him clear the instance and return to the real world.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan fought Adizi, but Adizi used a mirror to summon the Evil Spirit, which possessed and killed him. Jiang Nuo overcame the Evil Spirit’s mental attack and seized its heart, declaring victory.

• Si Yan arrived with association members and ordered Gu Shan to investigate Ni Ling’s identity as Jiang Nuo and Si Yan attacked Adizi.
• The system urged Adizi to use the mirror, and he rushed to summon the Evil Spirit while Si Yan warned Zhou Ling to prepare the formation.
• The Evil Spirit possessed Adizi, killed his consciousness, and attacked Jiang Nuo alongside the believers who tried to protect it.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan fought the Evil Spirit, while the association members restrained the believers and assisted them.
• The Evil Spirit tried to torment Jiang Nuo mentally, but Jiang Nuo’s scarlet eyes overwhelmed it with terror.
• Jiang Nuo grabbed the Evil Spirit by the neck, drove his claws toward its heart, and said, “I won.”

Jiang Nuo weakened the evil spirit enough for Zhou Ling and the association to destroy it in a specially prepared formation. Before his soul faded, Adizi revealed his real name was Li Tang, and Jiang Nuo passed out in Si Yan’s arms after the livestream ended.

• The evil spirit escaped Jiang Nuo’s attack as a blood-dark mist, but Zhou Ling and four association members trapped and annihilated it with a formation.
• Si Yan showed the dying Adizi a photo of his mother, and Adizi revealed that his real name was Li Tang.
• Jiang Nuo welcomed Li Tang back to reality as his final wisp of soul faded.
• Jiang Nuo received quest rewards and a clue about the Dragon Vein, then asked Si Yan to clean the gore from his hands.
• Si Yan comforted Jiang Nuo and transferred Spiritual Power with a kiss, but Jiang Nuo passed out before the livestream ended.

After the Aberrant Monsters were eliminated, the imperial capital recovered and Jiang Nuo and Si Yan became wildly popular. Jiang Nuo woke from a hazy nightmare and sought comfort from Si Yan, who reassured him and stayed close as he recovered.

• The communicator announced that all Aberrant Monsters had been eliminated and the crisis had passed, while maintenance workers restored the imperial capital’s signals and facilities.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan’s followers surged, and people online praised them and the association for saving the imperial capital.
• Jiang Nuo woke from a dream about the final instance with a tear on his cheek, then saw Si Yan training the members outside and exchanged looks with him.
• A new member shouted that he liked Jiang Nuo, and Si Yan replied that he was glad the young man liked his boyfriend.
• Jiang Nuo rushed into Si Yan’s arms, asked about his eyes, and admitted he could not remember his nightmare.
• When Jiang Nuo teased Si Yan about preferring black eyes, Si Yan said he chose them because red eyes meant Jiang Nuo felt awful, and Jiang Nuo snuggled close for a kiss.