Chapter Summaries

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.

Wang Xiaoming and Wei Jing monitored Guo Fan inside the Ghost Coffin as supernatural abnormalities intensified before the music box curse was due to erupt. The Ghost Child sensed an intruder in the building and ran toward the main entrance.

• Wang Xiaoming learned that the Ghost Child resembled Yang Jian as a child and decided Headquarters should keep its files secret rather than destroy it.
• The Ghost Coffin began shaking violently, and two pale right hands emerged as Wang Xiaoming suspected a supernatural resurgence inside Yang Jian’s body.
• As the curse’s eruption neared, darkness invaded the laboratory room, blackened hands sealed the coffin’s gaps, and Yang Jian’s portrait on the memorial tablet began bleeding.
• The Ghost Coffin shattered further under the strain while Wang Xiaoming continued observing and waiting for the curse to erupt.
• The Ghost Child sensed an invisible presence inside the building and ran toward the main entrance.

As the Music Box Curse reached its midnight deadline, supernatural forces overwhelmed the laboratory’s fifth underground level, destroying the ghost coffin and leaving Yang Jian’s body motionless. Wang Xiaoming realized Guo Fan might have survived because he was a ghost, meaning the plan to remove the curse had been a trap set for the living.

• Wang Xiaoming and Wei Jing watched the ghost coffin break apart as darkness, blood, and violent impacts spread through the sealed room.
• At midnight, the Music Box Curse ended, the music box closed, and the room’s supernatural activity abruptly stopped.
• Wei Jing declared that Guo Fan had died, while Wang Xiaoming saw Yang Jian’s intact corpse lying motionless among the ruined coffin pieces.
• Wang Xiaoming suspected the blood-soaked memorial tablet had created an unnatural balance that was keeping the ghosts inside Yang Jian’s body dormant.
• Wang Xiaoming concluded that Guo Fan might still be alive because he was a ghost, and realized the curse-removal plan had been a trap for living people.

Wang Xiaoming realized that the plan to restore Yang Jian’s consciousness had led him into a ghost’s trap, but he ordered Wei Jing to place the spirit tablet on Yang Jian anyway. When Wei Jing opened the room, the real Yang Jian appeared and seized him, and Wei Jing soon showed the same strange smile as the ghost.

• Wang Xiaoming deduced that the spirit tablet’s ghost might have invaded Guo Fan and possibly Yang Jian, and feared that Yang Jian’s body was hiding a dangerous ghost.
• Wang Xiaoming decided to gamble on restoring Yang Jian’s consciousness by placing the spirit tablet against his body, and warned Wei Jing to retreat if anything went wrong.
• Wei Jing opened the sealed room and picked up the spirit tablet from the pool of blood.
• Yang Jian appeared beside Wei Jing, gripped his arm, and revealed that the motionless corpse had been an illusion created with the Ghost Domain.
• Wang Xiaoming recognized that the ghost had waited for him to open the door and shouted for Wei Jing to escape, but Wei Jing stood still and turned toward him with Yang Jian’s strange smile.

Wang Xiaoming watched as ghost-controlled Yang Jian and Wei Jing escaped the fifth underground floor, while a strange ghost pursued the Ghost Infant through the building above. He recovered Yang Jian’s portrait and spirit tablet, then sought a way to use the Ghost Infant as a countermeasure as four dangerous ghosts converged.

• The Ghost Infant chased an unfamiliar water-leaving figure through the laboratory building while Dr. Chen and Assistant Liu hid on the second floor.
• Gao Ming watched the chase from outside, recognized the fleeing figure as another ghost, and left to return later.
• Ghost-controlled Yang Jian and Wei Jing left the fifth underground floor, and Wang Xiaoming tested their behavior by using himself as bait in the safe room.
• Wang Xiaoming retrieved Yang Jian’s portrait and the spirit tablet, then asked Headquarters to contact Liu Xiaoyu for information about Yang Jian’s recent movements.
• Yang Jian’s backup plan centered on Wang Shanshan’s ability to command the Ghost Infant, while Yang Jian and Wei Jing reached the first floor as the building’s Ghost Domain spread.

Yang Jian’s expanding Ghost Domain helped the Ghost Child catch and devour the strange intruder, but the Child then confronted Yang Jian and Wei Jing as they tried to leave the building. Wang Xiaoming reached the lobby as Wei Jing approached the Child, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain spread through the building, allowing the Ghost Child to catch the strange figure fleeing through a fifth-floor window and devour it.
• The Ghost Child sensed Yang Jian and Wei Jing trying to leave through the lobby and appeared at the entrance to stop them.
• The Ghost Child’s rotten head suppressed Yang Jian, forcing him to reappear in the lobby and holding him in a temporary stalemate.
• Wei Jing walked toward the entrance while the Ghost Child chose to confront him, and Wang Xiaoming arrived to watch their impending clash.

After Headquarters identified Wang Shanshan as the person who could command Yang Jian’s Ghost Infant, Wang Xiaoming sought her help while Wei Jing’s Ghost Messenger repeatedly suppressed the Ghost Infant. Wang Shanshan agreed to make it obey Wang Xiaoming temporarily, leaving the crisis at the experimental base unresolved.

• Qin Meirou called Liu Xiaoyu for help investigating Yang Jian’s Ghost Infant, and Liu identified Wang Shanshan as the person most likely able to command it.
• Wang Xiaoming called Wang Shanshan and explained that Yang Jian had been invaded by a ghost and that he needed the Ghost Infant’s help.
• Wei Jing grabbed and threw the Ghost Child, then suppressed it again when it clung to his back, showing that the Ghost Messenger greatly outmatched it.
• Wang Xiaoming asked Wang Shanshan to make the Ghost Infant obey his orders, and she agreed to try for the day.

Wang Xiaoming used Wang Shanshan’s command to take control of the Ghost Child, which swallowed the spirit tablet and restored Yang Jian’s consciousness to his body. Yang Jian woke free of the Music Box Curse and agreed to pursue the corrupted Wei Jing in exchange for three conditions.

• Wang Shanshan ordered the Ghost Child to obey Wang Xiaoming, and it stopped attacking Wei Jing and followed Wang Xiaoming’s commands while hiding from him.
• Wang Xiaoming ordered the Ghost Child to swallow the spirit tablet and return Yang Jian’s consciousness from the portrait to his body.
• Yang Jian revived, found that the Music Box Curse was gone and his ghosts were stable, and learned that Wei Jing had been corrupted by the spirit-tablet ghost.
• Yang Jian agreed to capture the ghost and restore Wei Jing after Wang Xiaoming offered three conditions.
• Yang Jian vanished with the Ghost Child and chased after Wei Jing.

Yang Jian confronted the out-of-control Wei Jing outside the Ping An Technology Experimental Base and used the dead man's head and his Ghost Domain to suppress him. He immobilized Wei Jing with his Ghost Hand, though the chapter ended before confirming whether the suppression had succeeded.

• Yang Jian brought Ghost Child outside and found that Wei Jing had lost all consciousness while his Ghost Domain spread around him.
• Yang Jian ordered the dead man's head to stare at Wei Jing, weakening the Ghost Domain but failing to stop Wei Jing from approaching.
• Wei Jing released the Ghost Rope, which bound the Headless Ghost Shadow and began descending toward Yang Jian.
• Yang Jian broke the attacking ropes with Ghost Hand and concluded that its power could not fully suppress the original Ghost Rope.
• Yang Jian activated his four-layer Ghost Domain, appeared behind Wei Jing, and grabbed his arm with Ghost Hand.
• Wei Jing appeared to freeze under Yang Jian's suppression, but Yang Jian could not yet tell whether it had succeeded.

Yang Jian suppressed Wei Jing and prepared to kill him after Wei Jing briefly regained consciousness, but Wang Xiaoming convinced him to imprison Wei Jing in a laboratory room instead. Wei Jing’s wounds healed inside the containment room, and Yang Jian stayed to demand answers about the trap.

• Yang Jian suppressed Wei Jing, but Wei Jing turned his head and called Yang Jian by name.
• Wei Jing claimed he was still alive, and Yang Jian readied the firewood axe while considering killing him.
• Wang Xiaoming arrived and persuaded Yang Jian to lock Wei Jing in a special laboratory room so he could study him.
• After Yang Jian released him and the Ghost Infant put away the dead man's head, Wei Jing’s injuries healed and his neck returned to normal.
• Wang Xiaoming said Wei Jing might recover by achieving a new balance, but Yang Jian refused to leave until he learned more about the trap.

After leaving Wang Xiaoming’s laboratory with the music box, Yang Jian followed strange footprints through the building to investigate what Ghost Child had pursued while his consciousness was stripped away. On the fifth floor, he found the human skin paper—and Ghost Child swallowed it before he could stop it.

• Yang Jian learned what had happened during his absence, took the music box, and left the laboratory after reminding Wang Xiaoming of the three favors he owed.
• Yang Jian spotted strange footprints alongside Ghost Child’s wet tracks and followed them upstairs, avoiding the use of Ghost Domain.
• Ghost Child broke into an office, frightening Dr. Chen, Assistant Liu, and the others inside; Yang Jian identified himself and learned the intruder’s trail had reached the fourth or fifth floor.
• Yang Jian followed the footprints to the fifth floor and discovered the human skin paper beside a window.
• Ghost Child grabbed the human skin paper and stuffed it into its mouth, and Yang Jian shouted for it to spit it out.