Chapter Summaries

Yang Jian discovered that the human-skin paper had moved on its own and likely manipulated the events surrounding his near-death, but he chose to keep it because its schemes still offered a chance to survive. He left the building without retrieving Wei Jing’s Ghost Rope, wary of upsetting the balance among the ghosts he controlled.

• Yang Jian found the human-skin paper covered in corpse water after the Ghost Infant spat it out, and realized the paper had relied on a ghost to enter the building while he was incapacitated.
• Yang Jian concluded that the human-skin paper had orchestrated the events involving Wei Jing, Guo Fan, and the ancestral tablet ghost, while the Ghost Infant had disrupted its plan.
• Yang Jian remembered the paper’s warning to trust Wang Xiaoming and recognized that following the warning had helped him survive the music box curse.
• Yang Jian decided to keep the human-skin paper and planned to store it in a container around the Ghost Infant’s neck so the Ghost Infant could restrain it.
• Yang Jian reconsidered retrieving Wei Jing’s Ghost Rope because his ghosts were already in a delicate balance, and he left it behind out of respect for Wei Jing.

Yang Jian returned to the suburban villa, sealed the human skin paper inside a golden sphere around the ghost child's neck, and tried to rest. After Chen Shumei asked him to rescue Xiong Wenwen from the Ghost Painting Incident, Yang Jian refused because entering the ghost painting could get him killed, leaving Chen Shumei pleading with increasingly desperate offers.

• Yang Jian made a welded golden sphere for the human skin paper, hung it around the ghost child's neck, and locked the ghost child in a room before going to sleep.
• Chen Shumei called Yang Jian and asked to meet him about Xiong Wenwen, so Yang Jian went to her home despite sensing something was wrong in the city.
• Chen Shumei told Yang Jian that Xiong Wenwen had gone with Li Jun on a mission three days earlier and had not returned or contacted her.
• Yang Jian realized Xiong Wenwen was likely trapped in the Ghost Painting Incident and refused to enter the dangerous ghost world to rescue him.
• Chen Shumei begged Yang Jian to save her son, offered to let him join Yang Jian's team, and then offered money and to become Yang Jian's girlfriend.

Yang Jian refused Chen Shumei’s plea to risk his life rescuing Xiong Wenwen, but gave her Cao Yanhua’s number and information about an exit from the Ghost Painting. He then prepared to return to Dachang City with a team, arranging help for Zhang Lei and setting out with Huang Ziya to find Feng Quan and Tong Qian.

• Yang Jian refused to enter the dangerous Ghost Painting Incident to save Xiong Wenwen, gave Chen Shumei Cao Yanhua’s number, and told her that people lost in the painting could seek the exit he controlled.
• Yang Jian went to the Ping An Hotel and offered Huang Ziya, Zhang Lei, and Wang Jiang places on his team in Dachang City.
• Huang Ziya agreed to follow Yang Jian, while Wang Jiang hesitated over giving up his city post and was refused a place on the team.
• Yang Jian offered Zhang Lei a slot to apply for a second ghost through Wang Xiaoming, and Zhang Lei agreed to contact the professor despite his rapidly worsening condition.
• Yang Jian learned that Feng Quan’s location was in a nearby county, then left with Huang Ziya to find Feng Quan and Tong Qian before returning to Dachang City.

Yang Jian left the city with Huang Ziya after spotting the Ghost Painting invading reality and suspecting the danger was spreading. Before departing, he warned Miao Xiaoshan to evacuate, and the uneasy sensation faded only after they reached the suburban highway.

• Yang Jian took Huang Ziya by taxi toward Xiao'an County and explained that Xiong Wenwen had joined Li Jun's team after his mother rejected Yang Jian's offer.
• Yang Jian noticed a blurry woman in a thirteenth-floor window and identified her as the Ghost Painting invading reality.
• Yang Jian justified leaving the city instead of joining the response to the Ghost Painting, then called Miao Xiaoshan and urged her to leave school and keep her candle safe.
• Miao Xiaoshan agreed to leave, and Liu Zi proposed that she and Sun Yujia stay with her at her family's villa in a nearby city.
• As the taxi left the urban area, Yang Jian's unease and twitching eyelid eased, revealing that the Ghost Painting's influence covered a vast area.

Yang Jian left the city and traveled to Little An County with Huang Ziya, where he found Feng Quan trapped in a grave beneath his Ghost Fog. Feng Quan survived Yang Jian’s rescue and said other Ghost Tamers had lured him there using Tong Qian’s satellite phone, though he did not know who attacked him.

• Yang Jian abandoned his plan to retrieve the Ghost Scissors and left the city, reasoning that the Ghost Painting could trap him without the music box’s protection.
• Yang Jian and Huang Ziya entered Little An County by taxi, where Feng Quan’s Ghost Fog thickened around them.
• Yang Jian used his Ghost Domain to suppress the fog and traced its source to a small hotel.
• Yang Jian found Feng Quan buried in an earthen grave and pulled him free with his Ghost Hand.
• Feng Quan told Yang Jian that other Ghost Tamers had attacked him and lured him to the hotel using Tong Qian’s satellite positioning phone.

Yang Jian and Huang Ziya joined Feng Quan to track Tong Qian’s phone in Xiao'an County, where picking it up trapped Feng Quan inside an unfamiliar Ghost Domain. A badly eroded former colleague appeared and confronted him, but Feng Quan had not yet identified the man.

• Feng Quan told Yang Jian that he had been lured by Tong Qian’s phone signal and attacked by an unknown Ghost Tamer.
• Yang Jian decided to keep searching for Tong Qian, and Feng Quan confirmed that her phone signal led to Xiao'an County.
• The three traveled to an abandoned lot, where Feng Quan found Tong Qian’s satellite positioning phone and picked it up.
• The phone dragged Feng Quan into a Ghost Domain, transforming the empty lot into a sinister landscape beneath a red sun.
• A severely eroded man appeared and recognized Feng Quan as one of Headquarters’ first-generation Ghost Tamers, while Feng Quan struggled to remember him.

Feng Quan was lured into a Ghost Domain by Pei Dong, who planned to kill him and steal the ghost inside his body with help from several accomplices. As Feng Quan was close to being killed, Yang Jian arrived and confronted Pei Dong, who was shocked to find him alive.

• Yang Jian and Huang Ziya realized Feng Quan had vanished and headed toward the Ghost Domain.
• Pei Dong revealed that he had used Tong Qian’s phone signal as bait and planned to kill Feng Quan so his accomplices could inherit the ghost inside him.
• Pei Dong’s five Ghost Tamer accomplices invaded Feng Quan’s Ghost Domain and attacked him as his ghost fog and Grave Soil protections weakened.
• Yang Jian arrived, covered the area in red light, and stopped the attack before Feng Quan died.
• Pei Dong recognized Yang Jian and reacted with disbelief, saying he had thought Yang Jian died after fighting Fang Shiming.

Yang Jian confronted Pei Dong and his group to rescue Tong Qian, refusing to accept their threats or negotiate without her return. After Yang Jian killed Zheng Long and overwhelmed Pei Dong with his Ghost Domain, Pei Dong realized Yang Jian was far stronger than he had expected.

• Feng Quan told Yang Jian that Pei Dong had controlled two ghosts and that Tong Qian was being held by his group.
• Pei Dong proposed ending the confrontation and threatened to cause paranormal incidents, but Yang Jian demanded Tong Qian and refused to back down.
• Yang Jian expanded his red Ghost Domain and killed Zheng Long, turning the supposed one-against-six fight into one against five.
• Pei Dong tried to contain Zheng Long's corpse as its ghostly screams threatened to trigger a revival.
• Yang Jian warned Pei Dong that he could suppress their Ghost Domains in less than a second and demanded that he hand over Tong Qian.
• Pei Dong recognized that Yang Jian was beyond his group's level, while Tong Qian's fate remained unresolved.

Yang Jian overwhelmed Pei Dong’s group inside their Ghost Domain and captured Zhou Jiefeng after the others fled. He demanded that Zhou Jiefeng take him to Tong Qian, and Zhou agreed.

• Yang Jian killed Zheng Long, leaving Pei Dong and the other Ghost Tamers afraid to fight him.
• Pei Dong offered to hand over Tong Qian, but Yang Jian located the source of the Ghost Domain and attacked Zhou Jiefeng instead.
• Yang Jian seized Zhou Jiefeng, suppressed the ghost inside him, and scattered the remaining Ghost Tamers.
• Feng Quan urged Yang Jian to pursue the fleeing group, but Yang Jian insisted that finding Tong Qian came first.
• Huang Ziya revealed she had been concealed nearby, and Yang Jian questioned Zhou Jiefeng until he agreed to lead them to Tong Qian.

Yang Jian interrogated Zhou Jiefeng after Pei Dong and the others escaped, learning that they had abducted Tong Qian because her unusual body might let them escape a deadly time curse and ghost resurgence. Zhou Jiefeng revealed that the curse came from an elusive pendulum clock, and the chapter ended with him explaining that strong sleeping pills had let them capture Tong Qian.

• Pei Dong and the surviving members escaped to a market near Xiao'an County, realized Zhou Jiefeng was missing, and fled to avoid Yang Jian.
• Zhou Jiefeng told Yang Jian that Tong Qian had been held in Xiao'an County because a supernatural incident had changed her body and made her valuable to the group.
• Zhou Jiefeng explained that he and others were cursed by an old pendulum clock, whose appointed time brought death, and believed changing bodies could free them from the curse and ghost resurgence.
• Zhou Jiefeng said the curse suppressed ghost resurgence but vanished when a Ghost Tamer controlled three ghosts, at which point the person died immediately.
• Zhou Jiefeng admitted that his group had incapacitated Tong Qian with strong sleeping pills before taking her.

Yang Jian and Feng Quan found Tong Qian imprisoned and badly injured in a hidden basement hospital, then rescued and healed her. Tong Qian woke up ready to take revenge, and the group left with Zhou Jiefeng’s corpse to discuss the Captain Plan.

• Zhou Jiefeng led Yang Jian, Feng Quan, and Huang Ziya to a hidden second basement, where they found Tong Qian imprisoned in a medical glass container.
• Yang Jian killed Zhou Jiefeng after condemning the torture of Tong Qian, and Feng Quan and Huang Ziya freed and healed her.
• Tong Qian woke and attacked with her ghostly laughter until Yang Jian stopped her and helped her recognize the group.
• Tong Qian told Yang Jian that she now understood the need to kill people who deserved it, and he asked about her attitude toward the Captain Plan.
• The group took Zhou Jiefeng’s corpse in the glass container and left the hospital, then bought Tong Qian clothes and brought her to a restaurant to eat.

Yang Jian recruited Tong Qian into his team and arranged for Feng Quan and Huang Ziya to join him in Dachang City. He left J City with Ghost Child, unaware that the Ghost Painting had begun moving inside the sealed villa, and returned to Dachang City safely.

• Yang Jian invited Tong Qian to join his team, and she agreed while keeping responsibility for her own city.
• Feng Quan and Huang Ziya agreed to join the team after handling personal matters, and Yang Jian entrusted Feng Quan with Zhou Jiefeng's corpse.
• Yang Jian retrieved Ghost Child from the suburban villa and disguised it before leaving for the airport.
• Crashing sounds came from the room holding the Ghost Painting, but Yang Jian left the villa and sealed it behind him.
• A blurry figure watched Yang Jian's taxi leave, then disappeared as footsteps echoed through the empty villa.
• Yang Jian flew back to Dachang City on the last flight, having resolved the ghost's resurgence problem and obtained the captain position.

Yang Jian returned to Dachang City, where Jiang Yan and Zhang Liqin came to pick him up. After Ghost Child frightened a pushy airport driver, Jiang Yan greeted Yang Jian with unexpected affection, while Zhang Liqin hinted that she also had feelings for him.

• Zhang Liqin told Jiang Yan that Yang Jian had texted asking them to pick him up at the airport, and the two hurried to leave.
• Yang Jian arrived with Ghost Child concealed in his travel bag and waited outside the terminal for his ride.
• A pushy driver took Yang Jian's bag, but gave it back when Jiang Yan and Zhang Liqin arrived to collect him.
• The driver found a gold bar that had fallen from the bag, but Ghost Child grabbed him and reclaimed it, terrifying him into fleeing.
• Jiang Yan hugged Yang Jian and insisted she had missed him, while Yang Jian denied missing her and Zhang Liqin watched him with unusual affection.

Yang Jian returned to Guangjiang Residential Area, assigned the Ghost Child to protect it, and investigated the old house’s mysterious golden door without opening it. As he recorded his recent supernatural encounters, he told Zhang Liqin that his emotions were fading, though she stayed beside him.

• Jiang Yan drove Yang Jian and Zhang Liqin home while Yang Jian learned that his mother, Zhang Fen, had returned to their hometown; he resolved to visit and settle old family disputes and investigate his father’s death.
• Yang Jian went to the Republican-era old house and ordered the Ghost Child to protect Guangjiang Residential Area from unfamiliar Ghost Tamers.
• Yang Jian noticed the old house’s golden third door and chose not to open it, suspecting it might contain a powerful ghost.
• Yang Jian recorded the supernatural incident he had encountered on the plane, and Zhang Liqin joined him in bed after her bath.
• Yang Jian explained to Zhang Liqin that his steady heartbeat reflected his fading emotions and warned that his memories might also blur; Zhang Liqin turned off the light and stayed with him.

After the first operation against the Ghost Painting failed, Li Jun stayed behind for one last attempt while Li Yang prepared to escape with Xiong Wenwen’s photograph. In Dachang City, Yang Jian found a trail of blood and a child’s footprint at his residential area, suggesting the ghost child had attacked another intruder.

• Li Jun learned that Chen Yi and Liu San were dead and Xiong Wenwen was trapped in a photograph after the team’s operation failed.
• Li Jun gave Li Yang the Ghost Door Handle and ordered him to escape at noon with Xiong Wenwen’s photograph, while Li Jun stayed behind with the ghost camera to fight the Ghost Painting.
• Yang Jian went for a morning walk in Guangjiang Residential Area and found security guards investigating a pool of blood at the entrance.
• Yang Jian identified a child’s footprint in the blood as the ghost child’s and suspected it had attacked an intruder contaminated by corpse water.
• Yang Jian asked Zhang Han to investigate the surveillance footage and focus on the possibility that the latest intrusion was connected to an earlier one.

Yang Jian returned to work as Dachang City's manager, surveyed the city, and learned that the operation against Ghost Painting had failed with heavy casualties. As he discussed the survivors’ uncertain fates, someone arrived at Shangtong Building insisting on delivering him a gift, prompting a security check.

• Yang Jian drove around Dachang City with Jiang Yan and Zhang Liqin, found no abnormalities, and returned to Shangtong Building.
• Zhang Hua told Yang Jian that the Ghost Painting operation had failed: Chen Yi was confirmed dead, Liu San was suspected dead, Xiong Wenwen was trapped in a photograph, Li Jun was missing, and Li Yang survived.
• Yang Jian reasoned that Xiong Wenwen might have deliberately entered the photograph as a way to survive and suggested that he could possibly be rescued.
• Yang Jian discussed the operation’s losses and Headquarters’ next steps with Zhang Hua, then invited him to share breakfast.
• Zhang Liqin reported that someone downstairs wanted to deliver Yang Jian a gift, and Zhang Hua contacted his colleagues to verify the situation.

Yang Jian tested the Ghost Porcelain brought by Wang Xin, confirming that it could shield a person from a ghost at the cost of matching damage to the porcelain and its user. Wang Xin then showed Yang Jian a case file about the Ghost Knocking incident in Kobe City, and Yang Jian realized why the island nation’s Headquarters wanted his help.

• Zhang Hua told Yang Jian that Wang Xin and his delegation came from the island nation’s Ghost Tamer Headquarters, and Yang Jian agreed to meet them but refused to help with their supernatural incidents.
• Wang Xin presented Ghost Porcelain as an apology gift, and Yang Jian tested it by having his headless ghostly shadow attack Wang Xin.
• Yang Jian discovered that Ghost Porcelain could resist the attack, but damage to the porcelain caused corresponding damage to Wang Xin, and removing his identification medium ended its protection.
• Yang Jian accepted the damaged Ghost Porcelain and dismissed Wang Xin, but Wang Xin showed him a case file about the Ghost Knocking incident.
• Yang Jian recognized the old man in the file and learned that the Ghost Knocking incident had reached Kobe City, leading him to question why the island nation’s Headquarters could not handle it themselves.

Yang Jian weighed whether to help Headquarters with the Ghost Knocking Incident, using the negotiations to demand better compensation while remaining wary of their tactics. After Wang Xin’s team left, Yang Jian reviewed the case file and found evidence that the Head Balloon Incident was connected to the Door-Knocking Ghost.

• Wang Xin knelt before Yang Jian and asked him to share information about the Ghost Knocking Incident, but Yang Jian demanded another piece of ghost porcelain and rejected Wang Xin’s offer of a 1.5 billion investment.
• Yang Jian ended the meeting and threatened to throw Wang Xin’s team from the building if they stayed; Wang Xin left and punished the subordinate who had drawn a gun.
• Zhang Hua urged Yang Jian to consider helping Headquarters, and Yang Jian explained that he intended to wait for them to return with a better offer.
• Yang Jian told Zhang Hua to monitor the Ghost Painting Incident, then examined the Ghost Knocking Incident case file after Zhang Hua left.
• Yang Jian found a photograph showing severed heads in the Door-Knocking Ghost’s Ghost Domain and concluded that the Head Balloon Incident was part of the Ghost Knocking Incident.

Yang Jian agreed to give Sun Ren a detained ghost in exchange for Zhang Wei’s release, then ordered Zhang Hua to kill Sun Ren after the exchange. Sun Ren’s pursuing female corpse appeared beside his bed, and Zhang Wei decided to tell Yang Jian about it.

• Zhang Xiangui told Yang Jian that Sun Ren had taken Zhang Wei, and Yang Jian agreed to trade a detained ghost for Zhang Wei’s safe return.
• Yang Jian spoke with Zhang Wei over video, confirmed he was unharmed, and instructed Zhang Hua to arrange the exchange before issuing a wanted notice and killing Sun Ren.
• Sun Ren sent Yang Jian an address, then suffered another encounter with the female corpse that had been haunting him; it appeared beside his bed and broke through his locked door.
• Sun Ren told Zhang Wei about the female corpse, and Zhang Wei decided to tell Yang Jian and named the haunting Ghost Pressing the Bed.

Yang Jian learned that Guo Tao’s travels may be connected to paranormal incidents and the Ghost Knocking Incident, then decided to travel to Kobe City to retrieve a clue from the Door-Knocking Ghost. He left Zhang Han and Zhang Hua instructions to watch for Guo Tao while he prepared for the trip.

• Zhang Xiangui thanked Yang Jian for helping secure Zhang Wei’s return and invited him to dinner, where Yang Jian went with Jiang Yan and Zhang Liqin.
• After returning home, Yang Jian met Zhang Han, who shared a file identifying Guo Tao as the person who had infiltrated the residential area and describing his mysterious disappearance and travels.
• Zhang Han revealed that the file contained a death certificate for the Door-Knocking Ghost and suggested Guo Tao’s travels might be linked to paranormal incidents across the country.
• Yang Jian told Zhang Han to capture Guo Tao if he appeared in Dachang City and said he would travel to Kobe City to investigate the Ghost Knocking Incident.
• Yang Jian asked Zhang Han to help receive his teammates while he was away, then prepared for the trip and found Zhang Liqin waiting in his room.