Chapter Summaries

In the supernatural nightmare, Yang Jian pursued the ghost into the ancestral hall and tried to identify it among the villagers. He spotted it by the entrance and attacked, then woke in the old house wondering whether he had killed it.

• Jiang Yan lay wounded after Yang Jian stabbed her, while Yang Jian locked the ancestral hall doors and searched for the ghost among the villagers.
• Yang Jian warned the villagers that a ghost had entered and was killing people in their dreams, but Yang Hai challenged him, so Yang Jian stabbed him and ordered everyone to cooperate.
• The villagers identified Zhang Fen as the likely ghost, leaving Yang Jian unsure whether she was his real mother or another deception.
• Yang Jian remembered that the ghost had hidden in an overlooked corner before, turned toward the entrance, and spotted an unfamiliar villager standing by the door bolt.
• Yang Jian charged the villager and repeatedly stabbed it, but the nightmare vanished during his next strike and he woke kneeling in the old house at 1:30 a.m.

After escaping the nightmare, Yang Jian marked and reassembled the separated corpse to interfere with the ghost’s recovery. The complete ghost briefly revived, but Yang Jian suppressed it with the ghost hand.

• Yang Jian told Jiang Yan that he was leaving to deal with a ghost and asked her to contact Zhang Hua about the village after dawn.
• Yang Jian found his father’s head rotting beside the separated corpse and realized the nightmare’s influence was changing it.
• Yang Jian used the sinister hatchet to carve an X-shaped mark into the corpse’s hand, accepting the hatchet’s curse as his own wounds healed but left scars.
• Yang Jian used the ghost shadow to reassemble the corpse, which became a complete ghost and then closed its eyes as his father’s head decayed further.
• The corpse sat up and opened its eyes, but Yang Jian slammed the ghost hand onto its head and forced its eyes shut again.

Yang Jian kept the corpse’s eyes closed with his ghost hand, allowing it to decay while his father’s plan unfolded inside the nightmare. The ghost became trapped in an endless cycle of being killed by the wolfdog, weakening its control as the dog moved toward replacing it.

• Yang Jian suppressed the corpse’s head, placed the body in the car, and maintained his grip as it began to rot.
• Villagers woke from the nightmare, and at least twenty or thirty people who had died in it committed suicide in reality.
• Yang Jian’s father faded away in the forest cabin after entrusting the fight to the wolfdog.
• The wolfdog attacked and killed the ghost, but the suppressed corpse kept the nightmare from ending and forced the ghost into another day.
• The wolfdog repeatedly killed the ghost in successive nightmares, gradually weakening its control and advancing the father’s plan to replace it.

Yang Jian kept the suppressed corpse under watch while Xiao Yuan visited and the villagers demanded compensation for those who died in the nightmare. He refused to pay them, ordered them to apologize to Jiang Yan and Zhang Fen, and let Zhang Hua’s people handle the growing conflict as they arrived in Meishan Village.

• Yang Jian warned Xiao Yuan not to touch the corpse, and she briefly said its face looked familiar before leaving.
• Jiang Yan called Yang Jian because villagers had surrounded her and Zhang Fen to demand compensation.
• Yang Jian told Zhang Hua the village needed cleanup and extra personnel because many people had died and conflicts had arisen.
• Yang Jian refused the villagers’ compensation demand and required them to apologize to Jiang Yan and Zhang Fen first.
• After the villagers refused and one woman damaged his car with a brick, Yang Jian denied them compensation and said he could have them charged with extortion.
• Zhang Hua’s personnel arrived in Meishan Village as Yang Jian faced the villagers.

Yang Jian turned away the villagers demanding compensation while investigators arrived to handle the supernatural incident and its aftermath. He ordered files retrieved for his father and cousin, named the Meishan Village case Ghost Dream, and arranged compensation for families who had stayed away as he continued suppressing the corpse.

• Yang Jian refused the villagers' demands for compensation, and Hu Kai arrived with investigators to take charge of the scene.
• Yang Jian ordered the villagers removed and isolated, then fired a shot to stop one woman from approaching him and the corpse beside him.
• Hu Kai recognized that the corpse might be a ghost, sealed off the village entrance, and ordered his team to take everyone away.
• Yang Jian asked Hu Kai to retrieve his father's file and his cousin Liang Yuan's file, and told him to send the Meishan Village incident file to Zhang Hua under the codename Ghost Dream.
• Yang Jian told Jiang Yan to compensate five million to each family whose members had died but had not come to demand money, then continued suppressing the decaying corpse.

Yang Jian investigated why his cousin Xiao Yuan had no records and found an old file for a woman named Yang Yuanyuan who looked exactly like her and had died forty years earlier. He suspected supernatural power had created Xiao Yuan as an anomaly, while the ghost he was suppressing continued to decay and rain gathered overhead.

• Hu Kai told Yang Jian that Xiao Yuan had no official records, then searched Meishan Village’s old records at Yang Jian’s request.
• Jiang Yan returned after compensating the remaining households, and Yang Jian sent her home while Hu Kai brought back an old file.
• Yang Jian found that Yang Yuanyuan, his father’s cousin, looked exactly like Xiao Yuan and had died by drowning forty years earlier.
• Yang Jian suspected his father had used supernatural power to create Xiao Yuan and alter people’s memories, but realized the remaining clues about his father were lost.
• Hu Kai left most of his personnel in Meishan Village on duty, while the corpse Yang Jian was suppressing decayed rapidly and dark clouds gathered overhead.

As Yang Jian watched the suppressed corpse in the rain, a vicious ghost began invading reality through a puddle and approached him unnoticed. Xiao Yuan arrived carrying a blade, and her approach seemed to provoke the emerging ghost, which was still struggling to escape the water.

• Yang Jian kept watch over the decaying corpse beside the vehicle as rainwater pooled around him.
• A pale reflection of Yang Jian moved in the puddle, and a ghost slowly emerged from beneath the water.
• Yang Jian noticed a hooded figure on the road and recognized her as Xiao Yuan, who said she was looking for someone.
• Yang Jian urged Xiao Yuan to go home and give up carrying a knife, but she continued toward him.
• As Xiao Yuan drew closer, the ghost in the puddle struggled more violently to emerge.

Yang Jian discovered that a ghost from his first nightmare had followed him into reality to continue its delayed attack. As the ghost kept reappearing, he tried to identify how to stop it while maintaining suppression of the corpse.

• Xiao Yuan warned Yang Jian that a figure was hiding near him, and the Ghost Eye revealed traces the ghost had left on the vehicle.
• Yang Jian saw a shadow resembling himself appear behind him, but the Ghost Shadow's counterattack missed as the figure vanished.
• Xiao Yuan explained that the ghost's attack had been delayed after invading its victim's body, and Yang Jian realized the first nightmare's attack had never ended.
• Yang Jian reasoned that the nightmare could accumulate ghosts across successive nights, creating an apparently endless cycle of attacks.
• The ghost reappeared beside Yang Jian and advanced, while he refused Xiao Yuan's offer of help and searched for a way to counter it without releasing the corpse or using the hatchet.

Yang Jian discovered that the nightmare ghost used water as a medium to attack him, then lured it into the rain and killed it with a service pistol. He ended the rain with his Ghost Domain, but remained wary that other nightmare ghosts might use water to invade.

• Yang Jian inferred that rainwater was the medium allowing the nightmare ghost to attack him and confirmed it by stepping out of the rain to block its approach.
• Yang Jian called Hu Kai for an ordinary gun, then deliberately stood in the rain and shot the ghost repeatedly until it vanished.
• Yang Jian told the case officers the danger was over, while Cousin inspected the water and asked about his weapon.
• Yang Jian worried that ghosts from later nightmares might also invade through water, so he used his Ghost Domain to disperse the rain and remove standing water across the area.
• The case officers witnessed the sudden change in the weather and realized Yang Jian's Ghost Eye had caused it.

Yang Jian defeated the ghost attack, kept watch as the corpse decayed beyond half, and arranged to seal it in a coffin. He planned to wait in his hometown for the corpse to rot away completely and for the dog tied to the larger plan to come find him.

• Yang Jian dispersed the rain and clouds with his Ghost Domain, then watched Xiao Yuan leave while wondering about her true identity.
• On her way home, Xiao Yuan stopped to smile eerily, revealed bluish marks on her skin, and later returned to sleep in the bed where Lin Xiaoxi had died.
• The night passed without further incidents, and Jiang Yan brought Yang Jian breakfast the next morning.
• Yang Jian realized the corpse’s eyes had rotted away after its decay passed halfway, preventing it from waking unless someone gave it new eyes.
• Yang Jian ordered a wooden coffin, placed the corpse inside, and decided to stay in his hometown until it rotted away completely.

Yang Jian returned to Dachang City with Jiang Yan after staying in his hometown, where he glimpsed the mysterious Xiao Yuan near the woods. He went to Shangtong Building to check on his company and planned to visit Zhang Hua for the results of his investigation into the coordinates.

• Yang Jian and Jiang Yan left the village, while Zhang Fen stayed behind and Xiao Yuan remained unseen.
• Yang Jian spotted Xiao Yuan in a raincoat near the woods, but she vanished when he looked again.
• Yang Jian and Jiang Yan arrived in Dachang City, and Yang Jian chose to go to Shangtong Building before visiting Zhang Hua.
• Yang Jian walked through the company to show that he was alive and reassure employees and any infiltrators.
• Yang Jian saw Zhang Wei berate employees during a meeting, then watched a bodyguard knock an angry employee unconscious.

Yang Jian reunited with Zhang Wei, caught up over food, and learned the company planned a gathering he was expected to attend. A message from Wang Shanshan reported that Ghost Child had left Guangjiang Residential Area, and Yang Jian went to investigate.

• Yang Jian met Zhang Wei at the company and listened to him complain about employees and invite him to eat barbecue skewers.
• Zhang Wei told Yang Jian that Zhang Xiangui had arranged a company gathering for the next day and wanted Yang Jian to attend.
• While they ate, Zhang Wei and Yang Jian discussed their former classmates, including Miao Xiaoshan and Liu Qi.
• Wang Shanshan texted Yang Jian that Ghost Child had run out, so Yang Jian left Zhang Wei and returned to his office.
• Yang Jian asked Zhang Liqin about the gathering, then opened his Ghost Eye and looked toward Guangjiang Residential Area to investigate.

Liu San and Li Yang came to Dachang City to find Yang Jian, who confronted them after a Ghost Child blocked their path. The chapter ended with Yang Jian asking whether the Ghost Painting operation had failed and whether they had come to seek his help.

• Liu San and Li Yang arrived near Guangjiang Residential Area and headed toward Yang Jian’s home.
• A Ghost Child appeared in their path, and Liu San recognized it as resembling the Starvation Ghost but noted that it did not attack them.
• Liu San called for Yang Jian, and Yang Jian appeared as his Ghost Domain turned the surroundings red.
• Yang Jian ordered the Ghost Child to leave, and it obeyed before disappearing.
• Yang Jian demanded that Liu San explain why he and Li Yang had come, suggesting the Ghost Painting operation might have failed.

Yang Jian learned from Liu San that the Ghost Painting operation had nearly destroyed their team, though Old Qin had temporarily contained the painting. Liu San revealed that Headquarters was then invaded and the Starving Ghost was stolen, leaving Ye Zhen as the main suspect.

• Yang Jian brought Liu San and Li Yang to his office through his Ghost Domain and agreed to hear Liu San out.
• Liu San said the Ghost Painting team had lost Chen Yi and one of his paper figures, while Li Jun saved Li Yang and later disappeared inside Ghost Painting.
• Liu San explained that Old Qin had acted and temporarily trapped Ghost Painting inside a building.
• Liu San told Yang Jian that someone invaded Headquarters while Old Qin was occupied, and Ye Zhen was the sole suspect.
• Liu San revealed that several imprisoned ghosts had vanished, including the Starving Ghost, shocking Yang Jian.

Yang Jian learned that the Starvation Ghost and its coffin nail had been stolen from Headquarters, but refused to help investigate the theft. Liu San then offered a paper-doll body to revive Xiong Wenwen, and Yang Jian agreed to let Li Yang join his team.

• Liu San told Yang Jian that Headquarters had been infiltrated and that the Starvation Ghost and other detained ghosts had been stolen.
• Yang Jian rejected Liu San’s request for his opinion on whether Ye Zhen was responsible and refused to join the investigation, even when Liu San mentioned the coffin nail as a reward.
• Liu San told Yang Jian that Xiong Wenwen could be revived from the photograph using a special vessel, and offered his paper-doll body for the purpose.
• Liu San peeled away his outer paper-doll layers to reveal a smaller doll prepared to hold Xiong Wenwen.
• Yang Jian accepted Li Yang into his team, while Liu San’s paper-doll body was left torn and incomplete.

Yang Jian kept Liu San’s paper figure and postponed Xiong Wenwen’s revival while considering the danger of Headquarters’ stolen ghost and the possibility that someone was trying to provoke a clash between him and Ye Zhen. He then reviewed what had happened while he was away and planned to meet Zhang Hua and attend Zhang Xiangui’s gathering with Zhang Liqin and Jiang Yan.

• Yang Jian examined Liu San’s paper figure, stored it in a temporary safe house, and told Li Yang to register and rest while he delayed deciding whether to revive Xiong Wenwen.
• Zhang Liqin asked Yang Jian about the stolen ghost, and he explained how a powerful Ghost Domain could uncover hidden objects and why Ye Zhen might be suspected.
• Yang Jian realized Liu San’s question about testing Ye Zhen had been a provocation and suspected someone at Headquarters wanted to set him against Ye Zhen.
• Zhang Liqin reported recent visitors and messages, including Zhang Hua’s completed investigation and Zhang Xiangui’s invitation to a private gathering.
• Yang Jian said he would speak with Zhang Hua and attend the gathering, and he told Zhang Liqin that Jiang Yan could come too.

At Zhang Xiangui’s gathering, Yang Jian and Zhang Wei ignored the business crowd and discussed an unfinished building tied to the Door-Knocking Ghost. The evening took a more serious turn when Yang Jian sensed Ghost Tamers among a group entering the hall.

• Zhang Xiangui held a lavish gathering in Dachang City after postponing it until Yang Jian returned from the countryside.
• Yang Jian studied Zhang Hua’s information about an abandoned building at 869 Jianshe Road in Dahan City, where several successive owners had failed to complete construction.
• Zhang Wei joked that the site had to be haunted, while Yang Jian reasoned that its connection to the Door-Knocking Ghost made it suspicious despite its ordinary surroundings.
• Tang Yanyan approached Yang Jian and Zhang Wei, mistook their ghost-catching claims for nonsense, and left; another woman then considered greeting them, prompting jealous Jiang Yan to hurry over.
• Yang Jian sensed Ghost Tamers among a group entering the gathering and judged that they posed little immediate danger.

Yang Jian confronted Wang Han, a Ghost Tamer who disrupted Zhang Xiangui’s gathering and treated ordinary people as disposable. Yang Jian demanded that Wang Han kowtow, and the confrontation was left unresolved.

• President Qian arrived and mocked Zhang Xiangui over the Guangjiang Residential Area, while Zhang explained that he was only supporting the gathering’s real guest of honor.
• Wang Han sensed a Ghost Tamer in the hall and shoved guests aside as he made his way toward Yang Jian.
• Jiang Yan asked Yang Jian to escort her around the gathering, but he pulled her out of the way when Wang Han tried to shove her aside.
• Zhang Wei drew two golden guns on Wang Han, who introduced himself and said he had come to meet Yang Jian.
• Wang Han dismissed ordinary people as beneath him, so Yang Jian opened the Ghost Eye and ordered him to kowtow.

At a gathering, Yang Jian confronted Wang Han after Wang Han appeared behind Jiang Yan and insulted her. The two avoided a fight that could endanger the guests, and Wang Han warned President Qian not to provoke Yang Jian.

• Jiang Yan hid behind Yang Jian when Wang Han appeared, and Yang Jian demanded that Wang Han apologize or fight him.
• Zhang Wei shot Wang Han in the forehead, but Wang Han survived and revealed that he could affect the hall with his Ghost Domain.
• Wang Han agreed to leave the confrontation until after the gathering, while Yang Jian held back to protect the people present.
• Yang Jian told Zhang Wei to let the gathering continue and planned to speak with Wang Han afterward.
• Wang Han told President Qian that Yang Jian was terrifying and warned him never to offend Yang Jian again.

Yang Jian ended the confrontation with Wang Han and turned the gathering’s attention to business, revealing his authority over the attendees. He took the seat of honor as Zhang Xiangui and Wang Bin prepared to hear what he had to say.

• Yang Jian told Zhang Wei that his shot had settled the conflict with Wang Han and warned him not to copy Yang Jian’s methods.
• Zhang Xiangui arrived with executives, and Yang Jian spoke with Ma Youcai about the body he had received through Ghost Shadow.
• Yang Jian confirmed that most guests had arrived and ordered everyone to take their seats for the gathering.
• The attendees made way for Yang Jian, while Tang Yanyan realized that he and Zhang Wei were far more important than she had thought.
• Zhang Liqin and Jiang Yan followed Yang Jian onto the platform, where he took the seat of honor and began the private gathering.