Chapter Summaries

Yang Jian rescued the remaining survivors from Baishui Town and used the brief six o’clock weakening of the supernatural restrictions to return them to reality. After arranging their resettlement and warning that the town might become an S-class incident, he left for Dachang City, while Liu Qi stayed to handle Xiao Yang’s funeral.

• Yang Jian reached the last trapped survivors, drove back the pursuing ghost with ghost fire, and carried the injured Bai Mei out of the alley.
• Yang Jian and Liu Qi waited until six o’clock, then used Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain to bring the survivors out of Baishui Town and move them to a resettlement site.
• Yang Jian warned the survivors not to return to Baishui Town and learned from Liu Xiaoyu that the town had been evacuated and sealed off.
• Yang Jian told Feng Quan to go to Ghost Post Office to help Wei Jing and warned the others that Baishui Town could become an S-class supernatural incident.
• Liu Qi stayed behind to arrange Xiao Yang’s funeral, while Yang Jian gave him a corpse and reminded him about the class reunion.
• Bai Mei thanked Yang Jian and learned his name before he departed for Dachang City with Wang Shanshan and Ghost Child.

Yang Jian gave Ghost Child the embroidered shoes and took it to the Quiet supernatural incident so it could consume the ghost there. After Ghost Child multiplied and overwhelmed the incident, Yang Jian saw that its new abilities made it extremely dangerous, and decided to stop its growth for now.

• Yang Jian returned Wang Shanshan safely to Guangjiang Residential Area, then took Ghost Child to his safe room to consider how to strengthen it.
• Yang Jian put a pair of old red embroidered shoes on Ghost Child, giving it eerie mobility and the ability to move through Ghost Domains.
• Yang Jian went with Ghost Child to the sealed county town and used a coffin nail to pin down Quiet's ghost before ordering Ghost Child to eat it.
• Quiet's ghost summoned countless strange little girls, but Ghost Child devoured them and multiplied until the supernatural phenomenon dissipated.
• Yang Jian summoned the new Ghost Children and recognized their layered attacks and protections as a threat capable of killing a captain-level Ghost Tamer, so he decided to halt their growth.

Yang Jian discovered that an armored foreigner was defending Nightmare Castle from his vicious dogs and agreed to a duel after being provoked. He recruited Zhang Xianguang to fight the foreigner, leaving the castle's fate to their confrontation.

• Yang Jian sent Ghost Child back to protect Wang Shanshan, then rested and entered his dream to inspect Nightmare Castle.
• Yang Jian saw an armored foreigner killing vicious dogs and realized he was helping defend the castle against the invasion.
• Yang Jian warned the foreigner that he could bring a large force into the dream, but refused the foreigner's initial duel terms because they favored the defender.
• After the foreigner insulted him and his country, Yang Jian accepted a duel with the castle as the wager.
• Yang Jian went to the schoolhouse, freed Zhang Xianguang to move within the classroom, and asked him to kill the foreigner and take the castle.
• Zhang Xianguang objected to killing an innocent person, but agreed to go after the foreigner when Yang Jian said the man had called their country cowardly.

Yang Jian brought Zhang Xianguang to Nightmare Castle, where foreign forces tried to alter their wagered duel by choosing a new fighter. Zhang Xianguang killed Ron in their first clash, forcing the foreigners to surrender the castle, and Yang Jian prepared to clear it out.

• Yang Jian and Zhang Xianguang discussed He Yuelian, the Peach Blossom Spring Plan, and the foreign forces’ threat as they approached Nightmare Castle.
• Yang Jian found the foreigners had brought in armed fighters and replaced their original duelist with Ron, a heavily built man wielding a greatsword.
• Zhang Xianguang charged Ron and overwhelmed his defensive strike, then cut his neck and killed him.
• Yang Jian declared the duel won and ordered the foreigners to leave Nightmare Castle, and they agreed to withdraw.
• Yang Jian gave the foreigners five minutes to evacuate and planned to enter the castle with Zhang Xianguang after waiting ten minutes.

Yang Jian and Zhang Xianguang entered Nightmare Castle and confronted Kelly, who released the fierce ghost inside the castle’s armor before dying. Yang Jian used the vicious dogs to destroy the armor and claim the castle, then returned Zhang Xianguang to the classroom and left to seek ghost money.

• Yang Jian asked Zhang Xianguang about Baishui Town and learned that the dead souls there could imitate lost relatives, though his revived mother’s imitation lasted only half a year and grew increasingly strange.
• Yang Jian and Zhang Xianguang found Kelly waiting in the castle, and she admitted that her companions had abandoned her.
• Kelly released the fierce ghost housed in the moving armor and let the supernatural source of Nightmare Castle take over, then died as her body disappeared.
• Yang Jian ordered the vicious dogs to attack the armor, and Zhang Xianguang helped by cutting off its sword arm so the dogs could tear it apart.
• Yang Jian returned Zhang Xianguang to the classroom under their agreement, left Zhao Xiaoya there, and took Zhang Xianguang’s advice to seek more ghost money.

After escaping Ghost Dream and taking Nightmare Castle, Yang Jian recorded his experiences and reunited with his mother over breakfast. Zhang Fen asked him to help find his missing cousin and urged him to choose between Zhang Liqin and Jiang Yan, but Yang Jian set aside the marriage question because marrying him could draw them into the dangerous supernatural circle.

• Yang Jian woke after escaping Ghost Dream, told Jiang Yan about his dream, and recorded Baishui Town and the events of the night in his notebook.
• Jiang Yan told Yang Jian that Zhang Fen had returned and had been asking to speak with him, and Yang Jian thanked Jiang Yan for caring for his mother and supporting him.
• At breakfast, Zhang Fen asked Yang Jian about his missing cousin, and he said Headquarters was watching for news but finding her would be difficult.
• Zhang Fen asked Yang Jian to choose between Zhang Liqin and Jiang Yan as his wife, but Yang Jian warned that marriage to him could expose them and their families to the supernatural circle.
• Zhang Fen continued suggesting other possible wives, including Wang Shanshan and Miao Xiaoshan, while Yang Jian listened with a helpless expression.

Yang Jian considered who could serve as a capable, trustworthy wife and picked up Miao Xiaoshan at the airport. He told her she was one of his two candidates, leaving her surprised and delighted as she promised to think about his proposal.

• Yang Jian ruled out Wang Shanshan, Zhang Liqin, and Liu Xiaoyu as potential wives before narrowing his choices to Jiang Yan and Miao Xiaoshan.
• After Miao Xiaoshan arrived in Dachang City, Yang Jian drove to the airport to pick her up and discussed her studies and growing anxiety about the future.
• Yang Jian told Miao Xiaoshan that he was considering her and Jiang Yan as marriage candidates, and she reacted with shock and embarrassment.
• Miao Xiaoshan said she would seriously consider the proposal and give Yang Jian an answer.
• Yang Jian took Miao Xiaoshan to Shangtong Building and warned her not to wander around because people had been dying in Dachang City.

Yang Jian reviewed reports from Dachang City and left the investigation into the disappearances on hold until after midnight, while weighing the danger posed by Zhao Xiaoya’s Wishing Ghost. At the Ghost Post Office, Feng Quan chose to bury himself in the Grave Soil with Wei Jing to investigate his condition, as He Yuelian continued mastering the Ghost Painting.

• Li Yang told Yang Jian that the disappearances in Dachang City were likely unrelated to Zhao Xiaoya, and Yang Jian ordered the investigation and surveillance to continue until after midnight.
• Li Yang reported that Huang Ziya had rescued Wang Shanshan’s grandmother, Feng Quan had reached the Ghost Post Office, and Tong Qian was monitoring the Caesar Hotel situation.
• Feng Quan told Sun Rui that Wei Jing remained motionless beneath the Grave Soil and that the Ghost Messenger buried with him might have fused with his body.
• Yang Jian left the decision to Feng Quan, who chose to enter the Grave Soil and bury himself with Wei Jing to try to communicate with him and restrain the Ghost Messenger.
• Feng Quan sank completely into the grave, while Sun Rui refused He Yuelian’s request to leave the Ghost Post Office until she became more proficient with her supernatural power.

Zhang Wei organized a class reunion and retrieved his supernatural axe to prepare for it, while Yang Jian requisitioned Headquarters' stored ghost money after learning its value. The chapter left Zhang Wei heading out for the gathering and Yang Jian arranging to collect the remaining ghost money.

• Zhang Wei failed to recruit a teenager and a young woman as underlings before A Fei reminded him about the class reunion.
• Zhang Wei confirmed that Miao Xiaoshan, Wang Shanshan, and Liu Qi would attend the reunion at six that evening.
• Zhang Wei went to Shangtong Building and took back his supernatural axe from Dr. Chen for the gathering.
• Dr. Chen judged the axe stable and suitable for ordinary users, and Yang Jian tacitly approved Zhang Wei taking it.
• Yang Jian requested Headquarters' ghost money, learned Cao Yang had already requisitioned one item, and ordered the rest collected for him.

Yang Jian collected Headquarters’ remaining ghost money and attended Zhang Wei’s class reunion while staying wary of his deal with the Ghost Cabinet. At the hotel, he discussed Ghost Child and his uncertain future with Wang Shanshan before rejoining his classmates and meeting the entertainers Zhang Wei had invited.

• Yang Jian received Zhang Wei’s invitation and gathered the last forty yuan of Headquarters’ ghost money.
• Yang Jian drove around Dachang City to check for danger before going to the hotel for the reunion.
• Yang Jian met Wang Shanshan, explained how he had strengthened Ghost Child, and discussed marriage and helping each other.
• Yang Jian joined Zhang Wei and the other classmates, learned that several entertainers were Zhang Wei’s company employees, and spoke with one he recognized.
• Miao Xiaoshan teased Yang Jian about the entertainer, and Zhang Wei asked Yang Jian to change his appearance before backing off after hearing about the side effects.

Yang Jian’s reunion with his classmates was interrupted when a plate of egg fried rice signaled the return of the Ghost Cupboard’s supernatural power. After discovering that a ghost had infiltrated the gathering, Yang Jian suspected the Wishing Ghost had taken control of the Ghost Cupboard, leaving the true threat unidentified.

• Yang Jian discussed the declining number of capable Ghost Tamers with Liu Qi and warned that supernatural incidents would soon spiral out of control.
• The classmates toasted to meeting again next year, and Zhang Wei and Wang Shanshan entertained the gathering with a song and a dance.
• A waiter brought an unrequested plate of egg fried rice, and Liu Qi returned with the dead waiter after investigating.
• Yang Jian recognized the rice as a signal from the Ghost Cupboard and decided everyone should stay while they investigated the ghost’s arrival.
• Yang Jian used ghost fire to expose an infiltrated female assistant, and Zhang Wei killed her with his red axe.
• Yang Jian suspected the Wishing Ghost had controlled the Ghost Cupboard and escaped Zhao Xiaoya’s control, while Liu Qi warned Zhang Wei that he had killed only a Ghost Slave.

Yang Jian and the others reasoned that the ghost was using their transaction with the Ghost Cabinet to escape its restrictions, while it continued sending waiters with bowls of egg fried rice. The group resolved not to let it safely pass midnight, but a third waiter arrived with another bowl before they could act.

• Yang Jian and Liu Qi suspected the ghost had human consciousness and was trying to contact Yang Jian through controlled people rather than kill anyone.
• Yang Jian explained that the ghost had agreed to appear before him before midnight in exchange for making a demand, and he considered what would happen if it failed to fulfill the transaction.
• A female waiter delivered a second bowl of egg fried rice and left; Yang Jian let her go because she was an ordinary person under supernatural control.
• Wang Shanshan proposed that the ghost might be trying to provoke Yang Jian into breaking the transaction, freeing it from the rules and allowing unrestricted attacks.
• Yang Jian and the others agreed they could not let the ghost safely pass midnight, then another waiter entered and delivered a third bowl of egg fried rice.

Yang Jian and the others realized that Zhang Wei’s casual request for egg-fried rice may have triggered the Wishing Ghost, which could kill one of his relatives after delivering twenty portions. Yang Jian prepared supernatural tools to lure, reveal, and lull the ghost, then waited for it to appear.

• Yang Jian connected Zhang Wei’s request for egg-fried rice to the Wishing Ghost and warned that fulfilling it could cost one of Zhang Wei’s relatives their life.
• Yang Jian produced a Corpse Oil Lamp and gave Zhang Wei a spare lamp, then lit Ghost Incense to protect the group.
• Yang Jian gave Liu Qi a loop of straw rope and explained that the Ghost Incense would keep the area safe while it burned.
• After a fourth bowl of egg-fried rice arrived, Wang Shanshan and Liu Qi suggested using a white ghost candle to draw the hidden ghost to them.
• Yang Jian lit the white ghost candle, and the group waited as the surrounding lights dimmed.

Yang Jian’s trap for the Wishing Ghost was disrupted when it sent a crowd of controlled people into the Peace Hotel, preventing him from using paranormal power against them. He pushed them out with men created by the Liar Ghost, but the crowd left behind enough egg fried rice to bring Zhang Wei’s total to nineteen, leaving his family one plate from danger.

• The Wishing Ghost sent repeated deliveries of egg fried rice and then drew hundreds of controlled people toward the Peace Hotel.
• Yang Jian and Liu Qi realized that using paranormal power against the crowd could kill them, and Yang Jian failed to move the hotel because the ghost’s power had pinned it in place.
• Yang Jian sealed the hall, but the Wishing Ghost destroyed the walls and let the crowd flood inside.
• Yang Jian summoned men in black with the Liar Ghost’s power, and they pushed the controlled people out without killing them.
• Yang Jian’s group counted the egg fried rice left behind and found nineteen plates, prompting him to conclude that the Wishing Ghost was deliberately holding Zhang Wei one plate short.

Yang Jian discovered that the Wishing Ghost was targeting his friends’ families to pressure him into a deal, and he stopped it from entering his home. With his mother and his companions’ relatives now threatened by fatal gifts, he had to decide whether to pursue the ghost before midnight, with only half an hour left.

• Miao Xiaoshan and Liu Qi reasoned that the Wishing Ghost was using Zhang Wei’s relatives to force Yang Jian into a deal, and Yang Jian realized it might be targeting people elsewhere too.
• A ghost disguised as Yang Jian entered Yang Jian’s home and repeatedly offered Jiang Yan egg fried rice; Zhang Liqin recognized the danger and called Ghost Child to block it.
• Yang Jian returned and pinned the ghost’s corpse with his cracked spear, then learned that the ghost had also targeted his mother, Zhang Fen, with a wish for new clothes.
• Wang Shanshan, Miao Xiaoshan, and Liu Qi reported that their families had been approached by the ghost and drawn into similar deals, while Zhang Wei worried about the consequences.
• Yang Jian’s companions debated whether to imprison the ghost before midnight or risk letting it escape the rules, and Yang Jian delayed his decision as the deadline approached.

Yang Jian dismantled his containment trap and appeared to accept the Wishing Ghost’s deal so it would stop targeting people’s families and reveal itself. As midnight approached, the ghost entered the darkened hall and emerged behind Zhang Wei, leaving Yang Jian face-to-face with it.

• Yang Jian decided to abandon the trap and make the Wishing Ghost believe he would compromise, hoping to stop further deaths and draw it out.
• Yang Jian extinguished the Ghost Incense, ghost candles, and oil lamps, threw away the spear with the coffin nail, and ordered the black-clothed men to let the affected people enter.
• The Wishing Ghost halted its attacks, and objects representing fulfilled wishes appeared; Zhang Xiangui then reported that the ghost near him was gone.
• Yang Jian and the others waited as the hall darkened and the supernatural influence formed a powerful Ghost Domain.
• At 11:55 p.m., the Wishing Ghost’s footsteps approached, and a human-shaped figure emerged behind Zhang Wei as Yang Jian stayed still.

Yang Jian waited through the Wishing Ghost’s false appearances, then used his sixth-layer Ghost Domain to identify the real ghost among five identical figures. He discovered it was about to kill Miao Xiaoshan and launched a counterattack as the final seconds ran out.

• Yang Jian ignored the motionless figure behind Zhang Wei, suspecting it was a decoy, while Liu Qi held back from attacking.
• At eleven fifty-eight, another identical figure appeared behind Miao Xiaoshan, followed by three more behind Miao Xiaoshan, Liu Qi, and Yang Jian.
• During the final minute, Yang Jian grabbed the figure behind him and opened his Ghost Domain to its sixth layer, freezing the scene and locating the real ghost behind Miao Xiaoshan.
• The Wishing Ghost moved despite the sixth-layer Ghost Domain and placed its hand on Miao Xiaoshan’s head, revealing that one of her relatives had already made a wish to it.
• Yang Jian lowered his Ghost Domain to the fifth layer to send Miao Xiaoshan away and swung Zhang Xianguang’s supernatural broadsword at the Wishing Ghost.

Yang Jian discovered that Miao Xiaoshan had died during the fight, but the fierce ghost reset the area by forty minutes and brought her back to life. The reset revealed that the Wishing Ghost, not the Starvation Ghost, had caused the earlier forty-minute rewind, and Yang Jian prepared to devise a new plan as the hotel emptied.

• Yang Jian confirmed that the fierce ghost had killed Miao Xiaoshan even after his fifth-layer Ghost Domain sent her away.
• Before Yang Jian could decide whether to use his own reset, the fierce ghost reset the entire area and restored time to 11:20, bringing Miao Xiaoshan back alive.
• Yang Jian recognized the forty-minute reset from the Starvation Ghost Incident and realized that the Wishing Ghost had been responsible for it.
• Liu Qi and the others worried that the fierce ghost could keep resetting and foil their plan, but Yang Jian refused to give up and promised to find another way to stop it.
• The fierce ghost caused the hotel guests and staff to leave the Peace Hotel, clearing the building as it began another course of action.

Yang Jian faced the Wishing Ghost’s new threat: a cursed survival game at Peace Hotel, with thousands of lives in Dachang City at stake if he refused. Zhang Wei, Old Eagle, and Wang Shanshan entered the hotel to play, while Yang Jian stayed outside and prepared to prevent the ghost from restarting.

• The Wishing Ghost sent a Ghost Slave to offer Yang Jian a game, promising to stop killing if he won and threatening his relatives and Dachang City if he lost or refused.
• Zhang Wei accepted the bloody-hand curse, and Yang Jian recruited Old Eagle and Wang Shanshan as the other two participants.
• The Ghost Slave announced that the three had to survive inside Peace Hotel until midnight, while interference would free the ghost from the rules.
• Yang Jian led everyone outside, then sent the three participants into the hotel as the game began at eleven-thirty.
• Yang Jian told Liu Qi that he would decide the outcome outside the game and stop the Wishing Ghost from restarting, but paranormal interference obscured his view of the hotel.

Inside the Peace Hotel, Old Eagle, Wang Shanshan, and Zhang Wei faced the game ghost and learned that its crimson wooden weapon was the source of its deadliest threat. They survived its first attacks, but the ghost escaped with the weapon as Yang Jian flooded nearly half of Dachang City with Ghost Lake water to restrict its movements.

• Old Eagle and Wang Shanshan reasoned that the ghost was at a disadvantage against Yang Jian, and they chose to wait for it together in the hotel lobby.
• The ghost approached slowly, and Zhang Wei charged it with his supernatural axe while Wang Shanshan shot its red wooden weapon away.
• A second ghost emerged and recovered the weapon, then vanished into the darkness; Zhang Wei shot the weapon away again as it ambushed Wang Shanshan.
• Old Eagle chose to knock the ghost away from Wang Shanshan instead of taking the weapon, saving her but allowing the ghost to retrieve it and escape.
• Yang Jian remained outside the Peace Hotel and expanded Ghost Lake water across nearly half of Dachang City to seal off the ghost's movements.