Chapter Summaries

High school senior Yang Jian read a forum post in which doctor Lightning King described a dead old man disappearing from a hospital morgue and later returning as a supernatural figure. The post ended as the old man entered Lightning King’s home, leaving his fate unknown.

• Yang Jian opened Lightning King’s forum post and read how the doctor identified an old man brought to the hospital as a corpse who had been dead for more than a day.
• Lightning King reported the old man’s body missing from the morgue and heard a patient claim that it had walked out of the hospital.
• Lightning King saw the old man walking past the emergency room and posted a photograph before the figure left the hospital.
• Lightning King posted that the old man was knocking at his front door, then described the lights going out and footsteps entering his living room.
• Lightning King recorded the old man knocking at his bedroom door and ended his posts with the message, “The old man came in.”

Yang Jian attended a late-night safety lecture where Zhou Zheng warned students that paranormal incidents were escalating into a global catastrophe. Zhou explained that ghosts could not be killed and that survival depended on understanding their patterns, leaving Yang Jian uneasy about the threat.

• Yang Jian discussed a disturbing photo of people hanging from a residential complex’s security bars with Zhang Wei and Miao Xiaoshan.
• Teacher Wang announced that self-study had been replaced by a safety awareness lecture and introduced Zhou Zheng, Dachang City’s person in charge.
• Zhou Zheng warned the students that paranormal incidents were increasing and could threaten the world’s future.
• Zhou Zheng told the students that ghosts could not be killed and that only ghosts could deal with ghosts.
• Zhou Zheng explained that ordinary people could survive a ghost’s attention only by overcoming fear and learning its patterns.

During Zhou Zheng’s safety lecture, the old man from the forum photograph appeared outside Yang Jian’s classroom and brought a Ghost Domain with him. As the darkness spread and the knocking continued, Teacher Wang stepped outside and vanished.

• Zhou Zheng wrote that ghosts could not be killed by ordinary means, only ghosts could deal with ghosts, and people needed to discern their patterns.
• Yang Jian saw the old man in black outside the classroom as the lights dimmed and the surrounding walls and books rapidly decayed.
• Fang Jing recognized the Ghost Domain, accused Yang Jian of bringing the danger, and said Yang Jian’s future self was terrifying.
• Zhou Zheng reported the supernatural incident by phone and chose to act despite being warned to retreat.
• Teacher Wang opened the classroom door and walked into the darkness, where he vanished as the Ghost Domain began invading the room.

As a corpse-spotted old man’s knocking spread a Ghost Domain through the classroom, Yang Jian guessed that the knocking was tied to its killings, and Zhou Zheng charged out to restrain the ghost. The old man rose despite Zhou Zheng’s monstrous hand holding him, and Zhou Zheng urged everyone to flee before the Ghost Domain returned.

• The old man kept knocking outside the classroom as darkness aged the room and Li Ming suddenly collapsed dead.
• Yang Jian recalled the forum account of the old man and guessed that its killing pattern was linked to the knocking.
• Zhou Zheng accepted Yang Jian’s guess, rammed open the door, and knocked the old man to the floor.
• Zhou Zheng used a grayish-blue hand extending from his belly to grab the old man, briefly making the Ghost Domain disappear.
• The old man rose despite being restrained, and Zhou Zheng shouted for the others to run.

Yang Jian and the other students fled the classroom, but a Ghost Domain trapped them in an endless, dark stairwell. When another ghost appeared in the restroom, Fang Jing shoved Yang Jian toward it.

• Fang Jing led the students out as Zhou Zheng stayed behind to hold off the old man in black, and several students fell through a collapsed floor during the escape.
• The stairwell lights went out, and Fang Jing and Yang Jian realized the stairs had carried the group below the building despite the absence of a basement.
• The students counted five flights without reaching an exit, and Fang Jing grabbed Yang Jian, demanding that he find a way out.
• The group saw a tall figure behind the restroom door, and a pale arm pushed the door open.
• Fang Jing shoved Yang Jian into the restroom, insisting that he go in because he claimed not to know anything.

Fang Jing betrayed Yang Jian and helped the restroom ghost drag him and Duan Peng and Zheng Fei into the darkness. Trapped inside, Yang Jian played the forum audio of the old man's knocking, which made the pale hand release him.

• Fang Jing persuaded three male students to shove Yang Jian toward the ghostly hand reaching from the restroom.
• Yang Jian grabbed Duan Peng and Zheng Fei as the hand dragged all three into the restroom, then the door slammed shut.
• Fang Jing left with the other students, claiming they might find Zhou Zheng upstairs.
• Duan Peng and Zheng Fei searched the restroom walls but could not find the door, while Yang Jian felt the hand's numbing cold spread through his body.
• Yang Jian remembered that the old man's knocking might work on ghosts and played the audio file on his phone.
• The pale hand recoiled from Yang Jian, and the icy numbness began to recede.

Yang Jian refused to save Duan Peng when the ghost seized him, then left Zheng Fei behind as he searched for a way out of the Ghost Domain. Lost in the darkness and low on phone battery, Yang Jian heard footsteps closing in behind him.

• Yang Jian found Duan Peng and Zheng Fei in the darkness and confronted Duan Peng for helping Fang Jing target him.
• When the ghost grabbed Duan Peng, Yang Jian chose not to use his phone's audio to save him, and Duan Peng vanished into the darkness.
• Yang Jian refused to take Zheng Fei with him and continued searching for an exit alone.
• The ghost seized Zheng Fei by the throat after he became lost in the darkness.
• Yang Jian realized he was trapped in the Ghost Domain, followed the sound of dripping water, and turned off his phone to conserve its battery.
• Footsteps approached Yang Jian from behind, and he hurried away from the presumed ghost.

Yang Jian fled through the darkness as a ghost pursued him, then survived when it stopped at a strange red light. The light entered the back of his hand as an eyeball, revealing a White Bone Tree and a gigantic shadow pinned to it; Yang Jian found the restroom door nearby and prepared to leave the strange space.

• Yang Jian ran toward the dripping sound while the ghost followed at a fixed distance, and his phone battery fell to five percent.
• As his phone shut down and the ghost reached for his neck, the ghost abruptly stopped pursuing him near a pale red light.
• Yang Jian touched the glowing sphere, which split open and burrowed into the back of his hand, causing intense pain and letting him see through the darkness.
• Yang Jian discovered that the red sphere had become an eyeball on his hand and that the dripping sound came from black blood leaking from a huge shadow nailed to a White Bone Tree.
• Yang Jian saw human remains hanging from the tree, sensed the place was dangerous, and spotted the restroom door behind him.

Yang Jian escaped the classroom’s Ghost Domain and found Zhou Zheng, who explained the Ghost Infant growing inside him before it emerged and killed him. Yang Jian discovered that his Ghost Eye let him see through the darkness and reached the trapped students, offering to lead them out.

• Yang Jian returned to the fifth-floor corridor and met Zhou Zheng, who told him the figure that had chased him was a Ghost Slave trapped in the Ghost Domain.
• Zhou Zheng gave Yang Jian a satellite positioning phone and revealed that a Ghost Infant had been consuming his body; he warned Yang Jian about Fang Jing and urged him to flee.
• The Ghost Infant tore its way out of Zhou Zheng, who died as it crawled after Yang Jian.
• Yang Jian descended the stairs and realized his Ghost Eye let him see through the Ghost Domain, though he feared it might eventually consume him like Zhou Zheng’s Ghost Infant.
• Yang Jian found Zhang Wei, Miao Xiaoshan, and other classmates lost in the darkness, and offered to lead them out.

Yang Jian led the survivors through the Ghost Domain as the Ghost Infant pursued them, and a new eye on the back of his head blocked its attack. The eye revealed the cost of his ghostly power, while the Ghost Infant then attacked Wang Shanshan and began fusing with her.

• Yang Jian guided the group past the motionless corpses of classmates, including Zhao Qiang, and suspected Fang Jing had abandoned them as bait.
• Yang Jian recognized the Ghost Infant’s cry and hurried everyone out of the teaching building.
• The Ghost Infant reached for Yang Jian, but a blood-red eye appeared on the back of his head and stopped its attack.
• Yang Jian realized the eye was another ghost whose power could eventually kill him.
• The Ghost Infant caught Wang Shanshan from behind, strangled her, and began sticking its skin to hers.

Yang Jian saved Wang Shanshan from the Ghost Infant, but the attack caused more red eyes to emerge from his body and intensified the signs of a ghost’s revival. He helped the weakened Wang Shanshan leave before the Ghost Infant could return.

• Yang Jian hesitated when the Ghost Infant strangled Wang Shanshan, then turned back and punched it to save her.
• The Ghost Infant released Wang Shanshan, bit Yang Jian’s arm, and was driven off when red eyes erupted from his wounds.
• Wang Shanshan tried to help Yang Jian, but his arm moved unnaturally and its many eyes frightened her before he regained control.
• Yang Jian told Wang Shanshan that he had chosen to save her and warned that the Ghost Infant might return.
• Yang Jian saw the Ghost Infant’s handprints spreading across Wang Shanshan’s neck, then helped her stand so they could leave.

Yang Jian reunited with the survivors and realized they were still trapped inside the Ghost Domain, which extended beyond the teaching building. He considered using the evil ghost’s power to escape, then decided to contact Fang Jing and settle a private grudge.

• Yang Jian returned to the sports field with Wang Shanshan, relieving Miao Xiaoshan and the other survivors, while Zhang Wei joked about having mistaken him for dead.
• Zhang Wei wondered whether Yang Jian was a ghost in disguise, but Yang Jian dismissed his suspicion and asked what time it was.
• Yang Jian noticed that the time had advanced strangely and that there was no sign of the outside world, then concluded that the sports field was still inside the Ghost Domain.
• Yang Jian explained that the Ghost Domain might be a moving sealed space and that using the evil ghost’s power might be the only way out, despite the risk of the ghost reviving inside him.
• Yang Jian decided to contact Fang Jing, who he believed was still trapped, and asked to borrow a phone with Fang Jing’s number.

Fang Jing remained trapped in the dark grove with an old ghost closing in, while Yang Jian contacted him and demanded the Human-Skin Parchment in exchange for help. The deal fell apart when Fang Jing refused to hand it over first, leaving him alone as the footsteps returned.

• Fang Jing fled the old ghost through the grove with a few classmates, while the rest of his group had disappeared or been left behind.
• Yang Jian called Fang Jing and offered to help him escape in exchange for information about his strange knowledge of the future.
• Fang Jing revealed that a Human-Skin Parchment contained information written by his future self and offered it to Yang Jian for rescue.
• Yang Jian guided Fang Jing through turns that temporarily led the ghost away, then demanded the parchment.
• Fang Jing insisted Yang Jian save him before he handed over the parchment, so Yang Jian ended the call and the footsteps returned as Fang Jing found himself alone.

Fang Jing surrendered the Human-Skin Parchment to Yang Jian in exchange for help escaping the footsteps he believed were a ghost. After the parchment erased Fang Jing’s future notes and began writing a warning in Yang Jian’s name, Yang Jian realized the eerie object was generating its own information and urged himself not to trust it.

• Fang Jing panicked as the footsteps closed in and agreed to give Yang Jian the Human-Skin Parchment if Yang Jian helped him escape.
• Yang Jian guided Fang Jing away from the footsteps, which were actually Yang Jian following him rather than a ghost.
• Yang Jian picked up the parchment and read Fang Jing’s future notes, but the writing vanished before he could learn much.
• The parchment began writing a message claiming Yang Jian was dead and speaking from ten years in the future.
• Yang Jian decided the parchment could not be trusted and tried to get rid of it, but it covered itself with repeated pleas for him to keep it.

Yang Jian kept the Human-Skin Parchment and tested how to summon the old man haunting the school. He realized the knocking audio had drawn the ghost to him, then abandoned Fang Jing to it.

• Yang Jian chose to keep the Human-Skin Parchment to avoid dying from a ghost's revival.
• Yang Jian directed Fang Jing to view a photograph of the old man, but the ghost did not appear.
• Yang Jian told Fang Jing to play the knocking audio, and the old man appeared nearby.
• Yang Jian left the area and admitted to Fang Jing that he had lied and that the audio had drawn the old man.
• The old man caught Fang Jing, and Yang Jian hung up as Fang Jing screamed for help.

Yang Jian led the surviving students to the school gate, but they found the surrounding area swallowed by darkness and realized the Ghost Domain trapped them. A call to Lightning King’s number connected and revealed a phone ringing inside the school, where Yang Jian spotted a figure watching from a third-floor window.

• Yang Jian returned to the group and said Fang Jing was likely dead, then warned that the old man and the nearby area were too dangerous.
• Yang Jian led the thirteen survivors through the school toward the gate, but the road outside ended in darkness and offered no way out.
• Zhao Lei explained that earlier help calls had connected without anyone speaking, and Miao Xiaoshan recalled that calls had worked in the classroom.
• Yang Jian called Lightning King’s number using Zhou Zheng’s satellite phone, and the ringtone echoed from somewhere inside the school.
• The call was answered in silence, and Yang Jian saw a faint phone light and a blurred figure at a third-floor window before hanging up.

Yang Jian realized the phone calls were part of a trap involving the old man who knocked, and that hearing the knocking could mark someone for the ghost. He left the group facing the threat while he tried to understand why the old man had not appeared when he played the audio earlier.

• Yang Jian received a call from 138, and then the other students’ phones began ringing with the same caller ID; he warned them not to answer.
• Qian Wanhao answered a call displaying Teacher Wang’s number, heard the old man’s knocking through the phone, and threw it down before Yang Jian ended the call.
• Yang Jian explained that answering the call could summon the old man, while Zhao Lei and Zhang Wei berated Qian Wanhao for putting everyone at risk.
• Yang Jian examined Lightning King’s forum post and concluded that a ghost had continued writing it after Lightning King died, using the post and audio to spread a curse through the knocking.
• Yang Jian reasoned that hearing the knocking online or by phone marked someone for the old man, while hearing it in person caused immediate death, and wondered why the old man had not appeared when he played the audio earlier.

Yang Jian used the Human-Skin Parchment to learn that a Ghost Domain might let him escape the old man's Ghost Domain, but that he needed to awaken another eye first. As the darkness surrounded him and his classmates, Yang Jian faced the choice of swallowing one of the blood-red eyes on his arm.

• Yang Jian saw the old man approach as darkness spread around the school, trapping him with Zhang Wei, Zhao Lei, and Wang Shanshan.
• Yang Jian read the Human-Skin Parchment, which revealed that he had survived being dragged into the restroom because another Ghost Domain was inside it.
• The parchment said Yang Jian might escape by using his own Ghost Domain, but his power was insufficient with only five eyes.
• Yang Jian opened five blood-red eyes on his arm, then learned from the parchment that swallowing one would give him a sixth eye and let him use his Ghost Domain.
• The old man came within twenty meters as darkness engulfed everyone, while other ghosts approached from the security booth, road, and surrounding darkness.

At 5:30, Yang Jian swallowed an eye and awakened his Ghost Domain, but the ghosts attacked and the Human-Skin Parchment predicted everyone would die. Yang Jian’s red light made him and seven others vanish, and the parchment recorded that all eight survived and left the school.

• Yang Jian bit off an eye on his arm, swallowed it, and grew a sixth eye as red light spread from his body.
• A ghost dragged away a student, and an old man ghost killed Qian Wanhao as the survivors panicked.
• At 5:30, multiple ghosts attacked everyone, but Yang Jian stood up and used his red light to drive them back.
• The red light flickered out, and Yang Jian, Wang Shanshan, Zhang Wei, Zhao Lei, and three others vanished before the old man could reach them.
• The Human-Skin Parchment recorded that eight people survived and left the school at 5:31.

Yang Jian and six other students escaped the school’s Ghost Domain and arrived on Dachang City Pedestrian Street, where they decided to go home and recover. Before leaving, Yang Jian warned them that the old man’s knocking audio could spread the haunting across the country, then collected their abandoned phones; Wang Shanshan asked to stay with him because she was afraid to be alone.

• Yang Jian and the six other survivors appeared on Dachang City Pedestrian Street after he opened his Ghost Domain, and the group spent two hours recovering from their escape.
• Zhang Wei wondered whether the others had died, and Yang Jian told the survivors to go home and rest rather than return to school.
• Yang Jian showed the group the forum post about the old man and warned them not to play its knocking audio, which could draw the old man to listeners across the country.
• Zhang Wei and the others threw away their phones in fear, and Yang Jian gathered them so he could sell them later.
• Wang Shanshan asked to follow Yang Jian and stay at his home for a few days because she was still frightened.