Recaps

Yang Jian followed a foreign woman through the Ghost Painting and discovered that ordinary people had survived inside its connected city fragments. He found a group of survivors who demanded he show them the exit, leaving him surrounded by them.

• Yang Jian followed a frightened blonde woman into a foreign city fragment and confirmed that a bottle of water inside the Ghost Painting was real.
• Yang Jian followed fluorescent arrows to a group of survivors and learned that only about a dozen remained after ghosts killed many of them.
• Yang Jian told a survivor that the entrance was also the exit, but said he had to finish his task before helping them leave.
• The survivor shouted that Yang Jian knew the way out, and six or seven men surrounded him as more survivors came out of a nearby room.

Yang Jian questioned the survivors trapped in the Ghost Painting, then subdued David when he threatened him with a gun. He set out to find the ghost with two guides, Li Yang and Jimmy, who joined him to seek a chance for the survivors to escape.

• Li Yang told Yang Jian that the Ghost Painting had trapped foreign survivors for six months while the ghost steadily killed them.
• David pressed a gun to Yang Jian's forehead and demanded that he lead the survivors out, despite others trying to stop him.
• Yang Jian snapped David's wrist and sent him flying; the gunshot failed to pierce Yang Jian because his Ghost Shadow blocked it.
• Yang Jian asked the survivors to provide two guides so he could find the ghost, and Li Yang and Jimmy agreed to help.
• Yang Jian introduced himself as being from Dachang City and gave his codename as Ghost Eye.

Yang Jian led Li Yang and Jimmy through the Ghost Painting’s silent city to search for the ghost believed to be its source. Inside an old apartment building, their footsteps awakened an unknown ghost on the staircase, which began descending toward them.

• Li Yang told Yang Jian that Jimmy had seen a woman in red near a building, and Yang Jian had them lead him there.
• Yang Jian explained that they needed to search the building together, and Li Yang and Jimmy agreed to risk entering with him.
• Yang Jian climbed the stairs ahead of them and planned to find the source ghost without confronting or containing it.
• Yang Jian heard footsteps above and tested the stairs, discovering that a ghost seemed to respond to people walking on them.
• Yang Jian realized the ghost was descending while they needed to go up, making a meeting in the stairwell inevitable.

Yang Jian searched the building for the ghost painting while avoiding a ghost on the wooden stairs. On the third floor, he found many corpses and realized the ghost painting was there, but it sealed the way out.

• Yang Jian stopped Li Yang and Jimmy from triggering the ghost on the stairs by moving onto the quiet second floor.
• Yang Jian searched the second floor with Li Yang and Jimmy but found no ghost, then led them up the outdoor staircase.
• On the third floor, Yang Jian found a decayed corpse inside an apartment and many more bodies scattered through the corridor.
• Yang Jian deduced that the ghost painting had trapped the people on the third floor.
• Li Yang told Yang Jian that the window they had entered through had become a wall, and Yang Jian saw that the outdoor staircase and exit had vanished.

Yang Jian searched the third floor of the Ghost Painting’s altered building, finding evidence that a foreign Ghost Tamer team had been killed there. He investigated a room with a suspicious window and found a corpse sitting on a sofa; when it vanished and the door slammed shut, Yang Jian realized the ghost would not let him leave.

• Yang Jian concluded that the Ghost Painting was on the third floor and told Li Yang and Jimmy to help search for the exit.
• Yang Jian examined the corpses and found equipment indicating that five of the dead had been Ghost Tamers, likely members of a wiped-out foreign team.
• Li Yang reported seeing a shadow move inside a nearby room, so Yang Jian went to investigate.
• Yang Jian warned Li Yang and Jimmy that the room’s surviving window could be a trap, then entered alone to search it.
• Yang Jian found a decayed figure sitting on a sofa, backed away, and saw it disappear before the door slammed shut behind him.

Yang Jian discovered that the corpse ghost trapped people by blocking one exit at a time and escaped with Li Yang's help. After Yang Jian subdued the corpse, he realized the ghost had attached itself to Li Yang, turning him into a Ghost Tamer.

• Yang Jian found that the corpse ghost blocked the door, then moved to the window when he tried to leave through it.
• Yang Jian deduced that the ghost could block only one location at a time and called Li Yang into the room to draw its attention.
• Yang Jian left while the ghost blocked the window, but it shut the door before Li Yang could escape.
• Yang Jian grabbed the corpse with his Ghost Hand, weakening it enough for the door to open and Li Yang to get out.
• Yang Jian noticed corpse spots on Li Yang and told him the ghost had attached itself to him, making him a Ghost Tamer.

Yang Jian discovered that Li Yang had become a Ghost Tamer after the door-blocking ghost possessed him, then continued searching for the ghost painting. He reached the fourth floor alone and survived an attack from the ghost on the stairs thanks to the music box curse, but the ghost's whereabouts remained uncertain.

• Yang Jian explained that Li Yang had been possessed by the door-blocking ghost and warned that the ghost would eventually erode him; Li Yang accepted the codename Blocking Door.
• Yang Jian, Li Yang, and Jimmy searched the third floor and found no further ghosts or the ghost painting.
• Yang Jian concluded that the painting might be on the fourth floor and decided to investigate while Li Yang and Jimmy waited below.
• Yang Jian climbed toward the fourth floor as heavy footsteps answered from above, then inferred that the ghost was descending from the stairs between the fourth and fifth floors.
• Yang Jian reached the fourth floor, collapsed when the unseen ghost attacked him, and regained consciousness as the music box curse protected him.

Yang Jian searched the fourth floor for the Ghost Painting while avoiding a murderous ghost on the stairs, then discovered that the paintings revealed the hidden ghosts and dangers throughout the building. He found the painting depicting the building itself and saw a familiar woman in red standing at its entrance.

• Yang Jian warned Li Yang to stay off the stairs because the ghost there pursued footsteps and could kill anyone who approached.
• Yang Jian searched the fourth floor cautiously and found evidence that Ghost Tamers had fought there before dying inside the Ghost Painting.
• Yang Jian entered a room covered in strange paintings and realized they showed places in the building along with the ghosts hidden within them.
• Yang Jian recognized paintings of the Ghost Messenger's village and an eerie old man, then memorized the depicted locations as places to avoid.
• Yang Jian found a tall painting of the seven-floor building and saw a familiar woman in red standing at its entrance.

Yang Jian realized the Ghost Painting was changing the building around him as a ghost climbed toward him, while another unseen ghost might be inside. He abandoned his search and fled downstairs with Li Yang and Jimmy, but the pursuing footsteps rapidly closed in.

• Yang Jian studied a painting of the building and realized its ghost had moved inside, while suspecting another unknown ghost lurked there.
• As paintings and rooms began disappearing, Yang Jian decided the risks of staying outweighed the chance of completing the Ghost Cabinet's task.
• Yang Jian left the room and warned Li Yang that they had to escape immediately; Li Yang reported seeing someone walking upstairs.
• Yang Jian, Li Yang, and Jimmy rushed down the wooden stairs as an invisible ghost's footsteps pursued them and drew closer.

Yang Jian encountered the ghost from the ghost painting on the stairs while fleeing the footsteps, and he managed to pass it but found Li Yang and Jimmy trapped between the two ghosts. He used his headless ghost shadow to pull them away as the ghosts drew close, leaving their survival uncertain.

• Yang Jian reached the stairs to the first floor and found the red-clothed ghost from the ghost painting blocking his way.
• Yang Jian charged past the ghost, failed to push it aside, and slipped around it to escape the wooden staircase.
• Li Yang hesitated and Jimmy froze when they saw the ghost, trapping themselves between it and the approaching footsteps.
• Yang Jian sent his headless ghost shadow along the handrail and lifted Li Yang and Jimmy to pull them away.
• The ghost from the ghost painting and the footsteps drew close on the narrow stairs as Yang Jian tried to save the two men.

Yang Jian rescued Li Yang and Jimmy from the staircase, where the Ghost Painting ghost and the deadly footsteps halted each other and the ghost began changing. As the group tried to escape through the expanding paintings, the ghost pursued them, so Yang Jian stopped with Li Yang and Jimmy to determine which of them it had targeted.

• Yang Jian used his ghost shadow to force Li Yang and Jimmy past the Ghost Painting ghost, but the approaching footsteps and the ghost stopped when they met, disrupting his control and causing the men to fall.
• Yang Jian noticed the Ghost Painting ghost becoming clearer and suspected it had absorbed the deadly footsteps as a puzzle piece, then led Li Yang and Jimmy away from the building.
• Yang Jian waited for the survivors to gather, warned them about the danger, and led the group toward the exit, leaving David behind.
• Yang Jian realized another ghost painting had appeared along their route, and Li Yang spotted the red ghost approaching from behind.
• Yang Jian concluded that the ghost had likely targeted one of the three of them, stopped with Li Yang and Jimmy, and told them to separate while the survivors continued running.

Yang Jian and Li Yang waited with Jimmy to learn whom the Ghost Painting Incident’s ghost would target, and Jimmy was chosen and left behind to die. Yang Jian led the survivors through a marked route out of the Ghost Domain and back to Villa Number Eight, where he warned them the danger could return.

• Yang Jian prepared to attack the ghost as it approached, but it changed direction and targeted Jimmy instead.
• Yang Jian ordered Li Yang to run with him, leaving Jimmy behind; Jimmy asked Li Yang to tell his mother he loved her.
• Yang Jian followed golden-bullet markers through a transformed alley and found a dark window that led out of the Ghost Domain.
• Yang Jian and the survivors emerged in a sealed room at Villa Number Eight, and he told Li Yang to move them away because the Ghost Domain had invaded the room.

Yang Jian suppressed the Ghost Painting, left the survivors in Li Yang’s care, and returned to Dachang City to complete his transaction with the Ghost Cabinet. He submitted proof that he had found the Ghost Painting’s source and waited for the cabinet to act.

• Yang Jian suppressed the Ghost Painting, saw that its world had expanded, and realized the painting could temporarily calm his Ghost Eye.
• Yang Jian gave Li Yang gold bars and Liu Xiaoyu’s number so he could help the stranded survivors, then left without revealing his name to a child who thanked him.
• Li Yang warned the survivors not to investigate Yang Jian, while the child said he wanted to write a book about the supernatural events.
• Yang Jian returned to Dachang City and placed a note in the Ghost Cabinet stating that he had found the Ghost Painting’s source and wanted the music box curse resolved.
• The Ghost Cabinet pulled the note inside, and Yang Jian waited for the transaction to be completed.

Yang Jian tried to use the Ghost Cabinet to escape the Music Box Curse, but it rejected both of his requests to remove or transfer the curse. He decided to ask it to help fix a flaw in Wang Xiaoming's plan, leaving his next move unresolved.

• Yang Jian waited for the Ghost Cabinet to answer his request to resolve the Music Box Curse, while planning to default on their deal and destroy the cabinet.
• The Ghost Cabinet returned his note and said it could not resolve the Music Box Curse, prompting Yang Jian to consider transferring the curse instead.
• Yang Jian wrote that the curse should be transferred to his Ghost Eye, but the Ghost Cabinet again told him to make another request.
• Yang Jian concluded that the Ghost Cabinet could not handle the curse directly and considered asking it to identify and fix a trap in Wang Xiaoming's plan.

Yang Jian used the Ghost Cabinet to guarantee another trade in seven days while preparing for Wang Xiaoming’s plan to remove the Music Box Curse. At Wang Shanshan’s residence, he learned the curse had reached her and that the Ghost Infant had attacked an unknown Ghost Tamer, so he decided to take it with him and investigate the intruder.

• Yang Jian asked the Ghost Cabinet to keep him alive until their next trade, and it shortened the interval from one month to seven days.
• Yang Jian moved dangerous supernatural objects from his home into a gold safe room, then visited Wang Shanshan and discovered that she also heard the Music Box Curse.
• Yang Jian learned that the Ghost Infant had grown to its second stage and agreed to take it with him when he left Dachang City.
• Wang Shanshan told Yang Jian that the Ghost Infant had returned five nights earlier with human fingers after driving away an intruding Ghost Tamer.
• Yang Jian decided to question Zhang Han at Shangtong Building about the unidentified intruder and agreed to let Wang Shanshan tell their families that they were dating.

Yang Jian returned to Dachang City, investigated reports of a suspected Ghost Tamer, and ordered Zhang Han and Zhang Hua to find and warn the intruder. Before leaving again, he asked Zhang Liqin to care for his mother if he died and took the Ghost Child with him.

• Yang Jian inspected Dachang City and learned from Zhang Hua and Zhang Han about a suspicious death and a suspected Ghost Tamer who had infiltrated his residential complex.
• Yang Jian ordered Zhang Han and Zhang Hua to search for the intruder and warn them to leave, threatening to kill them if they caused trouble in Dachang City.
• Yang Jian told Zhang Liqin to care for his mother if he died, then left Shangtong Building without seeing Jiang Yan, who arrived after he had gone.
• Yang Jian returned to his old house, greeted Wang Shanshan, and took the second-stage Ghost Infant, which he called the Ghost Child.

Yang Jian tested the second-stage Ghost Infant’s behavior and discovered that it could enter his Ghost Domain, understood commands, and might still attack living people. After returning to his villa, he found Liu Xiaoyu waiting there and had to stop the Ghost Infant from targeting her.

• Yang Jian tested the Ghost Infant’s range, obedience, and response to conflicting commands, finding that new commands overrode old ones and restraint faded without reminders.
• Yang Jian confirmed that the Ghost Infant could not speak and considered feeding it a ghost to learn whether it could absorb new abilities or become dangerous.
• Yang Jian returned to his villa, where Liu Xiaoyu explained that Cao Yanhua had sent her to stay close and contact him.
• The Ghost Infant appeared behind Liu Xiaoyu and seemed ready to attack her, but Yang Jian called it away before it could harm her.
• Yang Jian concluded that the Ghost Infant needed frequent orders to keep it from approaching and hurting living people.

Yang Jian forced Liu Xiaoyu to keep the Ghost Child’s existence secret and confined her to his villa while he rested under the Music Box Curse. Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoming prepared a spirit-tablet plan that could let Yang Jian survive by transferring the curse’s consequences to Guo Fan, as Headquarters readied a Ghost Painting containment operation for the next day.

• Yang Jian admitted to Liu Xiaoyu that he was keeping a Ghost Child and persuaded her not to report it, warning that he could not guarantee it would never lose control.
• Yang Jian ordered Liu Xiaoyu to stay in the villa until the following night, then locked the Ghost Child inside the safe room and went to rest.
• Wang Xiaoming examined the Ghost Coffin and spirit tablet with Dr. Chen, who warned that Guo Fan might not be able to manage the ghosts inside Yang Jian’s body.
• Wang Xiaoming explained that the spirit tablet might strip away Yang Jian’s Music Box Curse, with either Yang Jian or Guo Fan dying depending on whether the plan succeeded.
• Wang Xiaoming said Headquarters would launch a Ghost Painting containment operation the next day and had arranged for the ghost camera to be brought out.

As the Music Box Curse neared its deadline, Yang Jian dreamed of a sealed room with a broken piano and a lurking ghost, then woke and prepared to meet Wang Xiaoming. He left with Ghost Child wearing the Ghost Shroud and carrying a dead man's head, determined to resolve the curse while taking precautions.

• Yang Jian dreamed of terrifying hands playing a piano with five new keys and a shadow held back by the Music Box Curse's chime.
• Yang Jian woke at nine and reasoned that the dream might have connected him to the curse's source.
• Yang Jian equipped Ghost Child with the Ghost Shroud and ordered it to carry a dead man's head without attacking anyone.
• Yang Jian took a Substitute Death Doll and told Liu Xiaoyu to return to Headquarters rather than accompany him.
• Yang Jian received the address from Liu Xiaoyu and left with Ghost Child to meet Wang Xiaoming and resolve the Music Box Curse.

Yang Jian visited Wang Xiaoming’s research base to seek a way to survive the Music Box Curse. Wang Xiaoming revealed a plan that could transfer the curse but might leave either Yang Jian or Guo Fan dead, and Yang Jian was left to decide whether to risk it.

• Yang Jian sent Ghost Child into the research base to wait unseen, then entered openly and was met by Wei Jing.
• Wei Jing warned Yang Jian about his dangerous behavior and led him to the fifth underground-level laboratory, where Wang Xiaoming was waiting.
• Wang Xiaoming explained that Yang Jian’s consciousness would enter Guo Fan’s spirit tablet while the ghost inside replaced him, and that the ghost coffin would suppress the ghosts in Yang Jian’s body.
• Wang Xiaoming admitted that the plan could kill Yang Jian or Guo Fan, with the survivor occupying Yang Jian’s body.
• Yang Jian considered whether the Ghost Cabinet’s seven-day trading rule could help him resist the plan’s hidden trap as Wang Xiaoming left the decision to him.

Yang Jian agreed to Wang Xiaoming’s dangerous plan to transfer his consciousness and the Music Box Curse, while ordering the ghost child to attack anyone entering or leaving the building. The exchange left Guo Fan in Yang Jian’s body and Yang Jian hidden in the memorial tablet, but Guo Fan unknowingly inherited the curse.

• Yang Jian questioned Wang Xiaoming’s motives, then ordered the ghost child to kill anyone entering or leaving the building.
• Yang Jian entered the Ghost Coffin and picked up the memorial tablet to begin the consciousness transfer.
• Guo Fan awakened in Yang Jian’s body and realized he had taken over the body of a Ghost Tamer who controlled three ghosts.
• Guo Fan heard music in the room, and Wang Xiaoming recognized that the Music Box Curse had transferred to him while Yang Jian remained safe in the memorial tablet.

Dr. Chen evacuated the experimental building’s staff ahead of Wang Xiaoming’s dangerous ghost coffin experiment, but a supernatural presence appeared in the corridors. Assistant Liu and a colleague escaped the rolling dead man’s head and ghost child and prepared to warn Dr. Chen and Professor Wang.

• Dr. Chen ordered the assistants to pack up and leave, explaining that Wang Xiaoming’s aggressive research could expose them to deadly supernatural dangers.
• Assistant Liu and a colleague discussed Ghost Tamers’ danger and noticed something moving through a dark corridor.
• A rotten dead man’s head rolled toward them, and Assistant Liu and his colleague fled as a ghost child appeared to pick it up.
• Assistant Liu fell while looking back, then saw the ghost child and head vanish as they hid inside the building.
• After escaping, Assistant Liu urged his colleague to notify Dr. Chen and Professor Wang, hoping Wei Jing could deal with the ghost.

Wang Xiaoming kept Guo Fan inside the ghost coffin for observation after Yang Jian’s consciousness was sealed in a spirit tablet, while a supernatural incident trapped people inside the building. The chapter ended with security chief and Ghost Tamer Gao Ming confirming that anyone who tried to enter or leave the building would be targeted.

• Wang Xiaoming told Guo Fan to remain in the ghost coffin for at least two days and warned him not to leave.
• Dr. Chen reported a ghost in the building, and Wang Xiaoming suspected the incident was connected to Yang Jian’s plan.
• Guo Fan heard strange music inside his head and mistakenly attributed it to one of the ghosts in Yang Jian’s body.
• Dr. Chen let Xiao Zhang attempt to leave the building, and Xiao Zhang died as soon as he stepped outside.
• Gao Ming, the base’s security chief and a Ghost Tamer, observed Xiao Zhang’s death and concluded that the building had been sealed off by a ghost.

Gao Ming decided to avoid the ghost child at the laboratory building, while Dr. Chen’s group stayed inside after Xiao Zhang failed to return. Elsewhere, Li Jun’s team prepared to enter the Ghost Painting, but Liu San warned that their plan was likely to fail and argued they should wait for the incident to erupt.

• Gao Ming recognized the ghost child’s Ghost Shroud and concluded that Yang Jian was connected to the incident, so he left rather than confront it.
• Dr. Chen and the others realized Xiao Zhang had likely been killed and stayed in the office while Dr. Chen tried to contact Professor Wang.
• Chen Yi reported that another Ghost Painting had been found and that its Ghost Domain could provide an entrance to the Ghost Painting world.
• Li Jun prepared to take Li Yang and the team into the Ghost Painting, but Liu San questioned how they would escape if the source painting was contained.
• Liu San argued that the operation had no chance of success and proposed waiting until the Ghost Painting Incident erupted so its ghosts would enter reality.
• Li Jun rejected Liu San’s objection and ordered the team to proceed with the operation.

With less than twelve hours before Yang Jian’s curse erupted, Li Jun assembled a small team to locate the Ghost Painting and recruited Xiong Wenwen for his precognition. Xiong Wenwen joined despite his mother’s fears, and the team set out with him.

• Li Jun, Liu San, Chen Yi, and Li Yang discussed the dangers of the Ghost Painting operation and decided to recruit Xiong Wenwen while keeping Su Fan as backup.
• Li Jun asked Chen Shumei to let Xiong Wenwen join the operation, explaining that Yang Jian was close to death and Jiang Shangbai had died.
• Xiong Wenwen agreed to go and gave his mother Yang Jian’s private number to call if he needed rescue.
• Chen Shumei let Li Jun take Xiong Wenwen, and Li Jun promised to bring him back safely.
• Xiong Wenwen joined the team, pointed at Li Yang, and called him an idiot.