Chapter Summaries

Yang Jian narrowly escaped a supernatural nightmare after an unknown person dragged him away from the ghost, then woke in Meishan Village. He concluded that an obscure supernatural incident was affecting the area and planned to investigate his father's three locations while avoiding sleep.

• Yang Jian realized the ghost in his dream had hidden itself as the worker carrying the ghost coffin and lay near death, unable to fight back.
• An unknown person dragged Yang Jian away from the market and left him at the village entrance, where he regained consciousness.
• Yang Jian woke in reality beside Jiang Yan and confirmed that his injuries had vanished.
• Yang Jian told Jiang Yan that the village and surrounding area were affected by a concealed supernatural incident and decided they should stay for now.
• Yang Jian planned to investigate the three places his father had left behind at daybreak and resolved not to sleep.

After a nightmare kept him awake, Yang Jian investigated strange places around his village and discovered a supernatural object buried in his father's old fishpond. He retrieved a rotten wooden box but had not yet opened it, unaware that his reflection in the pond was behaving eerily.

• Yang Jian stayed awake through the night with his Headless Ghost Shadow drawn into his body, then noticed his father's room door had opened despite his certainty that nobody could have entered.
• Yang Jian searched the room with his Ghost Eye and Ghost Domain but found nothing unusual, concluding that something might have happened while he was trapped in the nightmare.
• Yang Jian examined his father's abandoned fishpond and discovered its water was unnaturally cold and its deepest silt concealed a dark object.
• Yang Jian used his ghost hand to dredge up an old wooden box, and the pond's water level sank by half a meter as he lifted it out.
• Yang Jian considered opening the box, while his reflection beneath the water tilted its head and stared at him.

Yang Jian uncovered a box containing pale human legs and followed clues to his father’s past, finding dog bones and a headless, footless corpse in the woods. He suspected the corpse’s head was hidden in the village temple, where he sensed something concealed inside two statues.

• Yang Jian opened the buried wooden box away from the village and found a pair of pale, unnaturally preserved human legs inside.
• Yang Jian took the box to the woods where his father had once kept dogs and used his Ghost Domain to uncover dozens of dog skeletons.
• Yang Jian found a buried chest containing a mutilated corpse with no head or feet and concluded that its legs were in the box.
• Yang Jian left the corpse in the woods and went to the temple, where he sensed something hidden inside two statues.

Yang Jian searched the temple and found two preserved human heads hidden inside its statues, one resembling his father, deepening the mystery surrounding his family's past. He left Meishan Village carrying the divided corpse, unaware that a supernatural reflection continued to follow him.

• Yang Jian used his Ghost Hand to remove a preserved human head from the first statue, then knocked it free after it bit him.
• Yang Jian found a second preserved head in the other statue and recognized its face as resembling his father's portrait.
• Yang Jian wondered whether the head could belong to his father and considered the possibility that the old newspaper had altered people's memories.
• Yang Jian put away the heads and the corpse's other sections, then left the temple and returned to the village.
• Yang Jian passed standing water without noticing that a supernatural reflection followed him.

Yang Jian encountered Li Yue and his companions, who were searching for the forest cabin where his father had once been buried. After directing them there, Yang Jian followed them and wondered what they wanted with the place.

• Yang Jian left the temple carrying the body bag and met a jeep driver who asked for directions to Meishan Village.
• Li Yue showed Yang Jian an old photograph of the forest cabin and claimed he wanted to retrieve a relative buried there.
• Yang Jian accepted a thousand yuan in old-edition banknotes and told the group how to reach the forest.
• After driving away, Li Yue told his companions that Yang Jian seemed terrifying and was likely a Ghost Tamer.
• Li Yue and his companions crossed the farmland toward the forest while Yang Jian watched them from a distance and wondered about their purpose.

Yang Jian confronted Li Yue and his companions after finding them digging for the corpse buried in his family’s woods. Li Yue revealed that a letter had led them there, but warned Yang Jian that only a messenger could read it.

• Li Yue led three companions into the woods and found the cabin and the shallow-buried red box, which contained no corpse.
• Li Yue recognized fresh footprints and suspected Yang Jian had already taken the corpse.
• Yang Jian appeared with the body bag and demanded to know why the group had come for the corpse.
• One man threatened Yang Jian with a handgun, but Li Yue stopped him and introduced himself.
• Li Yue recognized Yang Jian as the Dachang City Manager and said a letter had sent them to the woods.
• Li Yue showed Yang Jian a new-looking yellow envelope and said Yang Jian could not read it because he was not a messenger.

Yang Jian confronted Li Yue and the other couriers over a letter they feared losing, then attacked them after learning they served a ghostly force. He killed the gunman who shot him with a finger-bone weapon and prepared to continue the fight.

• Yang Jian demanded the letter from Li Yue, while Li Yue insisted that losing it would bring a fatal ghost attack.
• Li Yue explained that the couriers were forced to deliver strange letters, and Yang Jian decided they posed a danger to others and should be killed.
• The armed man fired a finger bone at Yang Jian, opening a small wound that quickly healed.
• Yang Jian crushed the finger bone and killed the gunman by snapping his neck with a blackened hand.
• Yang Jian dismissed the couriers' weapon as inadequate against a real ghost and continued confronting them.

Yang Jian took the cursed letter from Li Yue and opened it despite warnings, triggering strange changes in the forest as a ghost approached. The letter’s final warning alerted him that the ghost was already beside him, and he scanned the darkness for it.

• Yang Jian prepared to kill Li Yue and the other two messengers, but stopped when Li Yue warned that the letter would disappear if he died.
• Li Yue handed Yang Jian the unopened letter and explained that messengers were forbidden to read it because readers had died.
• Yang Jian opened the envelope and read warnings that the reader would be killed by a vicious ghost and that the ghost was coming.
• The forest darkened and grew unnaturally cold as Li Yue and the others prepared to survive the approaching danger.
• Yang Jian read the letter’s final line—“The ghost is right beside you”—then crumpled the paper and searched the forest with the Ghost Eye.

Yang Jian and the others waited in the dark woods as an unseen ghost moved among the trees. The ghost appeared beside Zhou Lin and Zhao Li, stopping less than half a meter away without them noticing.

• Yang Jian noticed Ghost Eye's vision was obstructed and concluded a nearby ghost was moving through the woods.
• Yang Jian reasoned that the letter might have summoned the ghost, while Li Yue stayed still inside the ash-covered area for protection.
• The ghost approached Zhou Lin as Zhao Li heard footsteps and warned him that someone was behind them.
• A dirt-covered ghost appeared half-hidden behind a tree beside Zhou Lin and Zhao Li, then stopped as the wind died down.

Yang Jian tracked the ghost through the woods as it attacked Zhou Lin, who fired his last bone bullet and then fled. After Zhou Lin died, the ghost emerged through his corpse and tried to touch Yang Jian, leaving Yang Jian wary of a possession that could disrupt the balance of ghosts inside him.

• Yang Jian sensed the ghost had stopped moving and searched the woods while it stood behind Zhou Lin and Zhao Li.
• Zhou Lin smelled the ghost, felt something touch his neck, and fired his last special bullet, but the shot struck a tree.
• Yang Jian approached after hearing the gunshot, and Zhou Lin ran as the ghost began moving again.
• Yang Jian saw the ghost clinging to Zhou Lin's back, then watched Zhou Lin fall and die before reaching him.
• Zhou Lin's corpse turned its dirt-covered face and reached toward Yang Jian, who escaped with Ghost Domain and feared the ghost could invade living bodies.

Yang Jian survived the ghost summoned by the letter and let Li Yue, Zhao Li, and Zhou Lin leave Dachang City, secretly warning Li Yue that the ghost was inside one of them. After they crossed the city boundary, Li Yue discovered the ghost had possessed Zhou Lin.

• Yang Jian sent the Headless Ghost Shadow toward the fallen Zhou Lin, but the supernatural disturbance faded and Zhou Lin suddenly revived.
• Yang Jian withdrew the ghost shadow, questioned Li Yue about the messengers and their post office, and learned that opening a delivered letter could make someone a messenger.
• Yang Jian allowed Li Yue, Zhao Li, and Zhou Lin to leave Dachang City, warning them not to return and giving Li Yue a note to open after they had left.
• After the three drove beyond Dachang City, Li Yue opened the note and read that the ghost was inside the other man.
• Li Yue looked at Zhou Lin in the rearview mirror and saw that half of his face was an unfamiliar, deathly pale likeness, while Zhao Li remained unaware.

Yang Jian investigated a village death and concluded that Lin Xiaoxi had killed herself after being hunted in a supernatural dream. He left the scene believing Xiao Yuan had survived the nightmare for reasons he did not understand.

• Yang Jian returned to the village, secured the corpse parts he had found, and learned Jiang Yan had not dreamed during the night.
• Yang Jian and Jiang Yan learned that Xiao Yuan was suspected of killing someone, then went to her family’s house.
• Yang Jian entered the house and found Lin Xiaoxi’s decapitated body on the third floor, with a bloodied knife in her hand.
• Yang Jian concluded Lin Xiaoxi had been affected by the dream ghost and had killed herself, clearing Xiao Yuan of the apparent murder.
• Yang Jian left the house as the victim’s family argued with the gathered villagers, and told Jiang Yan that Lin Xiaoxi had been the killer.

Yang Jian questioned Xiao Yuan about the nightmare, then stopped Lin Hui from attacking her after Lin Xiaoxi's death. When investigators judged the death a likely suicide, Yang Jian paid Lin Hui five million to settle the matter privately, leaving the village with a new nickname for him: Boss Yang.

• Yang Jian questioned Xiao Yuan about the nightmare, but she blamed herself for separating from Lin Xiaoxi and seemed unable to recall events clearly.
• Lin Hui rushed into the house and tried to strike Xiao Yuan with a stool, but Yang Jian stopped him with a ghostly hand and warned him not to attack.
• Yang Jian offered Lin Hui compensation and said Xiao Yuan had not killed Lin Xiaoxi, while Jiang Yan explained Yang Jian's authority in Dachang City.
• Two investigators arrived and gave a preliminary determination that Lin Xiaoxi had died by suicide, pending the autopsy report.
• Yang Jian agreed to a private settlement of five million, and Lin Hui accepted the money and left; villagers began calling Yang Jian Boss Yang.

Yang Jian searched his family’s old house for clues about his father and discovered signs that the strange nightmare might be affecting reality. He concluded that the dream ghost could be an unsolvable threat and considered leaving the area.

• Yang Jian agreed to lend his relatives money for a new house, provided they signed an IOU.
• Yang Jian found an old family photograph in which his father appeared corpse-like, suggesting he had changed before dying in a car accident.
• Yang Jian heard footsteps above and found the door to the room containing his father’s portrait open, though he could detect no abnormality.
• Yang Jian connected the footsteps and other local incidents to the ghost in his nightmare, which he suspected was beginning to affect reality.
• Yang Jian decided he might have to leave the old home the next morning because the dream ghost seemed impossible to contain.

Yang Jian kept watch in Meishan Village, but an unfamiliar voice calling his name pulled him and Jiang Yan into a supernatural nightmare. The nightmare had transformed the village and drawn many villagers into it, leaving Yang Jian to suspect the dismembered corpse was connected.

• Yang Jian remained in the old house while Jiang Yan reported lending several million to his relatives, and he warned her that danger might strike the village overnight.
• At around one in the morning, an unfamiliar man called Yang Jian's name, and the room and village abruptly changed into their old, shabby forms.
• Yang Jian realized the voice had triggered another nightmare despite his being awake, and Jiang Yan emerged after hearing what she believed was Yang Jian calling her downstairs.
• Yang Jian told Jiang Yan that a ghost had called her name, and she saw that the village around them had changed.
• Villagers came out of their houses after hearing voices call their names, and Yang Jian suspected the nightmare's spread was connected to the dismembered corpse he had touched.

Yang Jian searched the nightmare village for the ghost while trying to keep Jiang Yan safe and stop Xiao Yuan from killing villagers indiscriminately. After a scream led Xiao Yuan into a trap, Yang Jian chased after her, while the ghost emerged from hiding and blended into the crowd.

• Yang Jian explained to Jiang Yan that dying in the nightmare meant dying in reality, then ordered her to lock herself in a room while he searched for the ghost.
• Yang Jian found villagers gathered in the open area and stopped Xiao Yuan from killing one of them, warning that her approach would cause chaos and many deaths.
• A scream drew Yang Jian and Xiao Yuan to a dead villager, and Yang Jian found a steel bar to use as a weapon.
• Yang Jian realized the scream had come from the ghost, not the corpse, and that the bloody footprints had likely lured Xiao Yuan into danger, so he hurried after her.
• After Yang Jian left, a pale-faced figure stepped out of a nearby house, changed into an ordinary villager, and silently blended into the crowd.

Yang Jian and Xiao Yuan tried to find the ghost killing villagers in Meishan Village, but it lured Yang Jian out of the village and into the woods. There, the figure turned around and revealed the face from Yang Jian’s father’s portrait.

• Yang Jian realized Xiao Yuan had not been attacked and questioned why the ghost would enter the village, but Xiao Yuan did not remember telling him about it.
• Yang Jian and Xiao Yuan found several villagers dead, and Yang Jian concluded the ghost had been hiding in the crowd while its bloody footprints misdirected them.
• Yang Jian heard familiar leather-shoe footsteps and chased the figure when it began leaving the village, while Xiao Yuan stayed behind.
• Yang Jian followed the figure along a muddy road toward the woods where a corpse had been found and prepared to attack it with a rusty steel rod.
• The figure turned to face Yang Jian, revealing the face in his father’s portrait and making Yang Jian wonder whether his dead father had been a ghost.

Yang Jian met an incomplete memory of his dead father inside the nightmare and learned how the ghost, its scattered body, and Old Qin’s supernatural bus were connected. The man led him to a wooden house and revealed a black wolfhound that could potentially replace the ghost as the nightmare’s source.

• Yang Jian questioned the man who resembled his father, and the man explained that he was an incomplete ghost bearing his father’s memories, left behind after his death.
• The man told Yang Jian that he had died after a failed attempt to control a fierce ghost, and explained that Old Qin had used the supernatural bus to knock the nightmare ghost into dormancy.
• The man explained that the ghost’s body had been divided and hidden in three places to keep it wandering, but Yang Jian’s discovery and handling of the corpses had broken that balance.
• Yang Jian learned that one of the two heads belonged to the ghost and the other to the man, whose head had allowed him to appear in the nightmare.
• The man led Yang Jian through the expanding forest to an unchanged wooden house, where he stroked a black wolfhound and said it could replace the ghost as the nightmare’s source if Yang Jian succeeded.

Yang Jian learned that his father planned to replace the nightmare’s ghost with a large black wolfhound, using the corpse in reality to make the plan possible. After leaving the woods, Yang Jian returned to the village as the nightmare grew darker and began searching for the ghost.

• Yang Jian’s father told him to mark the ghost’s corpse with supernatural power, piece it back together, and keep it from waking until it rotted.
• Yang Jian learned that the father intended for the large black wolfhound to tame the ghost and eventually become the nightmare’s source.
• Yang Jian questioned whether he could trust his father, but his father insisted there was only one chance and sent him away.
• Yang Jian left the woods and returned to the village, where the nightmare had darkened and the ghost had killed more people.
• Yang Jian began searching the empty village for the ghost and hoped Xiao Yuan had made progress.

Yang Jian encountered two Jiang Yans in the village nightmare and attacked them to expose the ghost. The ghost fled into the ancestral hall and disappeared among a crowd of villagers, leaving Yang Jian trapped inside with it.

• Yang Jian found Jiang Yan wounded in an alley, but remained unsure whether she was the real Jiang Yan or the ghost in disguise.
• Yang Jian spotted another Jiang Yan at the ancestral hall and realized one of the two had to be the ghost.
• Yang Jian stabbed the wounded Jiang Yan, then pursued the other Jiang Yan when she tried to flee.
• The ghost escaped into the ancestral hall and vanished among twenty or thirty villagers.
• Yang Jian shut and bolted the ancestral hall doors, determined to find the ghost among the crowd.