Chapter Summaries

Su Cheng discovered that Daochenzi had turned Third Aunt into a jiangshi and learned that he was suppressing Li Yueli’s remains in a sealed well. After the group shared their findings, they concluded that the god-worship ceremony bound Li Yueli to protect the village and that surviving the ritual was the way to complete the mission.

• Su Cheng found Third Aunt among the jiangshi in Daochenzi’s bedroom but failed to locate the item he used to control them, then escaped as Daochenzi returned.
• Daochenzi realized someone had entered his room and ordered the jiangshi to remember the intruder’s scent, then vowed to make Third Aunt a powerful jiangshi.
• Su Cheng returned to the courtyard, where Li Ren said he had learned crucial information, and Hao Ruoxue reported finding human remains in Village Chief Bai’s house.
• Li Ren revealed that Bai Yaozu had murdered Li Yueli, whose wronged spirit had killed villagers before Daochenzi summoned the River God to protect the village.
• Su Cheng explained that Daochenzi lived in the ancestral hall and that Li Yueli’s remains were likely sealed in its dry well; Li Ren added that villagers offered red lotus seeds nourished by tourists’ flesh and blood.
• Su Cheng concluded that the group needed to cultivate the lotus seeds, complete the god-worship ceremony, and survive it to finish the basic mission.

Su Cheng saved Hao Ruoxue from a red lotus that had grown into her chest, and the survivors prepared for the ceremony to worship the god. Village Chief Bai arrived with villagers to take them to the ceremony as Aunt Jin, Wei Guhua, and Yao Yue emerged transformed, each carrying an enormous red lotus.

• Su Cheng severed the lotus bud that tried to entrance her, then broke into Hao Ruoxue’s room and destroyed the vengeful spirit attacking her.
• Su Cheng extracted the lotus stem coiled around Hao Ruoxue’s heart, treated her injuries, and kept the lotus stem while Hao Ruoxue kept the flower.
• Yaya explained that she had used the lotus seed in Wang Zhichao’s room because he had not returned.
• Village Chief Bai entered the courtyard with dozens of villagers to take the tourists to the ceremony to worship the god.
• Aunt Jin, Wei Guhua, and Yao Yue emerged from their rooms transformed and carrying enormous red lotuses.

Su Cheng escaped Daochenzi’s ritual by switching places with Mu Ling, then entered the ancestral hall to confront three zombies and awaken Third Aunt’s remnant soul. Third Aunt entered Su Cheng’s mind, leaving her to learn the reason for Third Aunt’s arrival and whether Senior Sister Qingya was still alive.

• Village Chief Bai led the visitors to the riverbank, where Daochenzi began the ceremony to honor the god.
• The watery River God devoured Aunt Jin, Wei Guhua, and Yao Yue along with their heart lotuses, then spat out bones containing their screaming souls.
• Daochenzi ordered Hao Ruoxue, Li Ren, Yaya, and the woman he thought was Su Cheng to become the next offerings, but recognized Mu Ling disguised as Su Cheng.
• Su Cheng broke free of the ritual’s restraints, sent Mu Ling to take her place, and ran to the ancestral hall.
• Su Cheng fought Daochenzi’s three zombies, burned two of them, and used white qi to awaken Third Aunt’s remnant soul.
• Third Aunt entered the space between Su Cheng’s eyebrows, showing her memories and why she had come to Red Lotus Village.

Su Cheng broke the seal in the well and brought Li Yueli’s remains to the riverbank, where the awakened Ghost King killed Daochenzi and the villagers. Su Cheng survived by offering Li Yueli the skeleton and a red lotus flower, completed the instance, and left Hao Ruoxue and the others a final clue about offerings.

• Su Cheng shattered the barrier over the well, retrieved the skeleton, and learned from Mu Ling that the Ghost King’s aura had changed.
• Li Yueli absorbed the villagers’ resentment and the ghost infant, then attacked and killed Daochenzi.
• Su Cheng urged Hao Ruoxue, Li Ren, and Yaya back toward the riverbank as red threads dragged fleeing villagers back to the ceremony.
• Li Yueli killed Daochenzi and the villagers before turning its attention to Su Cheng.
• Su Cheng offered Li Yueli the skeleton and red lotus flower, and the system confirmed she had completed all missions.
• As Su Cheng left the instance, she shouted “Offerings!” three times to give Hao Ruoxue and the others a final clue.

Su Cheng’s warning let Hao Ruoxue escape the instance, but Wang Zhichao destroyed Yaya’s red lotus and Li Yueli killed Yaya and Li Ren. After Li Yueli and the red threads clashed, the village reset and welcomed a new group of tourists, while Su Cheng returned to her apartment with an upgraded class and skill.

• Hao Ruoxue offered her red lotus to Li Yueli, completed the basic mission, and vanished from the instance.
• Wang Zhichao’s remnant soul destroyed Yaya’s lotus, and Li Yueli swallowed Wang Zhichao before killing Yaya.
• Li Ren tried to offer his small red lotus to Li Yueli, but Li Yueli killed him before he could finish speaking.
• Li Yueli fought the red threads at the riverbank, and afterward the threads stitched the dead villagers back together as puppets.
• Village Chief Bai and the villagers resumed their routines, then welcomed eight new task-takers to Red Lotus Village.
• Su Cheng returned to her apartment, where her account balance rose to 22485 and her class and sixth skill updated.

Su Cheng registered for the District Competition, prepared for its dangers, and entered the Out-of-Control City instance. The chapter then shifted to the instance, where Su Cheng worked as a delivery rider in White Moon City and arrived at a dark, deserted residential complex.

• Su Cheng learned that special instances had grown more dangerous, considered the District Competition, and tore her ticket to register.
• Su Cheng prepared for three days, then entered the Out-of-Control City instance as the competition began and participants' memories were sealed.
• In the instance, Su Cheng delivered orders through crowded White Moon City streets and spoke with fellow rider Sun Wei.
• Su Cheng reached Yuehao Residential Complex, Section A, Row 5, Number 1, and stopped outside its dark, silent entrance because something felt wrong.

Su Cheng delivered food to Yuehao Residential Complex, where she encountered ghosts and narrowly avoided being lured into a house. After discovering the complex was actually a cemetery, she questioned why she had been so certain the ghosts could not harm her.

• Su Cheng followed the directions to Luo Lin’s villa and delivered the takeout, where Luo Lin tried to coax her inside for water and a good review.
• When Luo Lin grabbed Su Cheng’s arm, her hand burned; Su Cheng refused to enter, collected a satisfied survey, and escaped the complex despite the voices calling to her.
• Luo Lin revealed that she had previously lured delivery workers inside and arranged negative reviews so she could detain them, then helped her elderly neighbor place another order.
• Su Cheng searched for Yuehao Residential Complex and found that the map identified it as Yuehao Home (Cemetery), realizing she had encountered ghosts.
• Su Cheng wondered why she had known the ghosts could not hurt her, while the jade pendant at her neck cooled and a passerby checked on her.

After a delivery at Yuehao Residential Complex left her wary of the uncanny, Su Cheng arranged to move into Xiaoyun’s apartment and witnessed the supermarket staff brutally kill a man who had used an alternate space to steal food. The sight stirred bloody fragments in Su Cheng’s memory, and she left the restroom corridor pretending she had heard no one inside.

• Su Cheng received a call from her mother, who arranged for her to move into Xiaoyun’s vacant apartment in Red Moon Garden.
• At Manager Peng’s office, Su Cheng saw a black, misty shadow clinging to Zhang Xue and avoided telling Manager Peng about the strange delivery.
• Su Cheng ended her tenancy, packed her belongings, and headed to Xiaoyun’s apartment, stopping at a supermarket to buy dinner.
• Su Cheng watched a man use an alternate space to steal food, then saw the cashiers take him into the men’s restroom and torture him after he admitted what he had done.
• As blood spread inside the restroom, Su Cheng recalled murky, bloody fragments before the cleaning lady interrupted her and she left the corridor.

Su Cheng uncovered her memories and powers after surviving a ghost’s attack in her apartment. She recognized the competition instance and received its missions, but worried that Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei might be in danger while their memories remained lost.

• After leaving the supermarket, Su Cheng realized she had an alternate space and that her memories of growing up in White Moon City had been implanted.
• Su Cheng reached Red Moon Garden, found Xiaoyun’s apartment empty, and experimented with her alternate space.
• An elderly ghost from a nearby funeral entered through Su Cheng’s window and tried to take her body, but Su Cheng killed her with a boning knife from her Smart Bag.
• Su Cheng remembered Mu Ling and recovered her memories of the Survival Apartment and its instance worlds.
• The competition system gave Su Cheng three missions, and she worried about Yan Yu and Xu Shaowei because participants without their memories were vulnerable to ghosts.

Su Cheng examined the competition’s restrictions and had Mu Ling investigate the ghosts disturbing the residents of Red Moon Garden. After Mu Ling protected the frightened, unawakened Xu Shaowei through the night, Su Cheng set out to collect five more positive-review forms for a qualification certificate.

• Su Cheng discovered that the competition had sealed Smart Bag tools whose technology exceeded the instance’s level by ten times or more, then absorbed White Qi while Mu Ling returned to the bracelet.
• At three in the morning, noises from the apartment above prompted Su Cheng to send Mu Ling to find their source.
• Xu Shaowei left her apartment to confront the noisy child, encountered three ghosts in the corridor, and escaped inside when Mu Ling opened her locked door.
• Mu Ling drove off the other two ghosts and stayed outside Xu Shaowei’s apartment at Su Cheng’s request, while Xu Shaowei spent the rest of the night terrified.
• At daybreak, Su Cheng left Mu Ling to watch Xu Shaowei and went out to make deliveries and collect five remaining positive-review survey forms.

After earning her certificate and bonus, Su Cheng resigned from the delivery job and became Red Moon Garden’s lost-and-found administrator. She inspected the suspicious items in her care, then used Mu Ling’s perspective to track Xu Shaowei, who hurried toward a nearby temple.

• Su Cheng collected fifty positive reviews, took the certificate and bonus instead of double pay, and resigned despite Manager Peng’s protests.
• Su Cheng returned to Red Moon Garden and applied for the lost-and-found administrator position; Manager Lan hired her and showed her the office.
• Su Cheng found that the records did not match the eight unsettling items stored in the locked chest.
• Mu Ling spotted Xu Shaowei leaving her apartment, and Su Cheng guessed she was heading to the nearest temple.

Su Cheng spoke with Xu Shaowei about the distorted world, but Xu Shaowei rejected her warning and left the complex. After gathering rumors about Building 4, Su Cheng entered Apartment 205, where Zhao Fengshan and Tang Yue’s ghosts confronted her.

• Su Cheng told Xu Shaowei that the world was distorted and warned her about its traps, but Xu Shaowei mistook her for someone recruiting for a pyramid scheme and ran out; Su Cheng sent Mu Ling after her.
• Su Cheng befriended Old Wang and learned about strange incidents in Building 4, including the deaths of Zhao Fengshan and his caregiver, Tang Yue.
• Su Cheng researched the deaths and used a key taken from Old Wang to enter Apartment 205.
• A ghostly girl appeared in the stairwell, then vanished when Su Cheng saw her.
• Zhao Fengshan’s ghost appeared in the apartment, followed by Tang Yue’s ghost, who ordered Su Cheng to leave.
• Su Cheng told Tang Yue that the apartment belonged to Zhao Fengshan, and Tang Yue angrily insisted that their dispute was none of Su Cheng’s business.

Su Cheng defeated Tang Yue and Zhao Fengshan in apartment 205 while delivering their lost belongings, then returned to her routine at Red Moon Residential Complex. After receiving a call from her parents about a package, she wondered what her fake parents had sent her.

• Su Cheng let Tang Yue and Zhao Fengshan choose their own lost belongings, but Tang Yue tried to take the resentful axe and could only claim her stapler.
• Tang Yue trapped Su Cheng in a memory of torturing Zhao Fengshan, but Su Cheng escaped the illusion and revealed her celestial-master power.
• Zhao Fengshan attacked Tang Yue, who swallowed half his soul before Su Cheng burned her away with the Fire-Kindling Art.
• Zhao Fengshan reclaimed his golf club and wig, then Su Cheng burned his remaining soul and left apartment 205.
• Su Cheng copied Old Wang's key and returned the new key ring beneath the security-booth desk.
• Su Cheng's mother called to say a package was on its way, and Su Cheng wondered what her fake parents had sent.

Su Cheng collected a parcel from the Little White Parcel Station, where employee Chen He had secretly murdered the owner, Boss Wen. After discovering the meatballs sent by her fake parents contained human remains, she tested their limits and concluded they could only threaten her through verbal traps or by luring her out of White Moon City.

• Su Cheng left work early to collect her parcel before the expected rain and encountered Chen He working at the Little White Parcel Station.
• Chen He’s thoughts revealed that he had killed Boss Wen and hidden the body in the station’s refrigerator, while the corpse began to rise unnoticed.
• Su Cheng opened the meatball jars sent by her fake parents and found a fingernail and curled hairs inside the food.
• Su Cheng pretended to enjoy the meatballs while refusing to reveal anything about her alternate space, then sent her parents a photo of an empty jar.
• Su Cheng ignored her parents’ next call and reasoned that they could not directly attack her inside White Moon City, but could try to trick her into leaving.

Su Cheng and Mu Ling tried to protect Xu Shaowei when a ghost infant possessed her and Shen Ying attacked her in the rain. Shen Ying escaped through a hidden door, while Mu Ling and Su Cheng were left to wonder about the door and Shen Ying’s strange powers.

• Su Cheng learned that Xu Shaowei had taken refuge in a hotel, and Mu Ling stayed nearby after sensing danger there.
• A ghost infant possessed Xu Shaowei and drove her into the rain, where she struggled to regain control and encountered Shen Ying, who tried to kill her.
• Xu Shaowei used a mysterious knife to expel the ghost infant, and Mu Ling appeared to block Shen Ying’s attack.
• Shen Ying escaped through a hidden door that vanished before Su Cheng could inspect it, and Su Cheng recognized her as the rainy-night killer.
• Shen Ying returned to her abandoned hideout and discovered that her staff had transferred the damage from Mu Ling’s attack to a companion; she then tried to recover her lost memories.

Shen Ying recovered her sealed memories and learned that the system’s restrictions had ruined her preparations, while Su Cheng brought Xu Shaowei back to Red Moon Garden. There, Su Cheng helped Wang Tai, encountered the ghost girl Ruoruo, and followed her memories to the rooftop, where she witnessed the boy who had killed her.

• Shen Ying remembered her sealed memories, regretted failing to kill Xu Shaowei, and checked the missions that the system had assigned her.
• Su Cheng carried Xu Shaowei to Red Moon Garden and used White Qi to drive two ghosts from Wang Tai’s body, then warned him about his wife and learned about a resident in unit 605 of Building 5.
• Su Cheng met the ghost girl Ruoruo in the elevator, helped her recognize her name, and took her to the rooftop after she identified a medal in the lost property box.
• On the rooftop, Su Cheng watched Ruoruo’s memory reveal that a boy had strangled her for her medal and that his mother had hesitated to call for help.

Su Cheng learned that Ruoruo had been murdered by Yue Chao and Wen Chun, then drowned in an abandoned water tank, and promised to find the items linking them to her. After reuniting with Xu Shaowei and confirming their shared mission, Su Cheng visited Ruoruo’s mother and uncovered records identifying the killers and their later deaths.

• Ruoruo showed Su Cheng the memory of Yue Chao and Wen Chun mutilating and drowning her, then asked for help finding the belongings connected to them.
• Su Cheng returned to Room 401, where Xu Shaowei had recovered her memories, and learned they shared the mission to help the annual celebration proceed smoothly.
• Su Cheng and Xu Shaowei discussed Shen Ying, the rainy-night killer, and agreed Su Cheng would handle Yan Yu while Xu Shaowei dealt with her own work.
• Su Cheng visited Room 605 in Building 5 and met Ye Mei, Ruoruo’s distressed mother.
• Su Cheng found Ye Mei’s records identifying Yue Chao and Wen Chun as Ruoruo’s killers, along with reports that Wen Chun, Yue Rong, and Yue Chao had all died.

Su Cheng and Mu Ling subdued Yue Rong, Wen Chun, and Yue Chao in Room 606, then returned the ghosts’ lost belongings to them. Ruoruo took revenge by devouring the family, growing stronger but becoming clouded by resentment.

• Su Cheng identified Wen Chun as the severed-leg ghost and Yue Chao as the boy with the ball, then entered Room 606 to confront the family.
• Yue Rong, Wen Chun, and Yue Chao attacked Su Cheng, but she and Mu Ling overpowered them and confined their weakened souls in rings of blue fire.
• Su Cheng used the lost property box to return Yue Rong’s axe, Wen Chun’s broken high heel, and Yue Chao’s ball and fruit knife to them.
• Su Cheng left the family to Ruoruo, who devoured Yue Rong, Yue Chao, and Wen Chun to avenge herself.
• Ruoruo thanked Su Cheng, who warned her that devouring more souls could let resentment take control of her reason.

Su Cheng helped Ruoruo reunite with her mother, secured her certificate, and prepared to leave Red Moon Garden for Man Moon Hotel with Xu Shaowei. The chapter ended with two specters outside White Moon City worrying that Xu Shaowei was no longer obedient and might never leave the city.

• Ruoruo met Ye Mei on the rooftop, and after Ye Mei discovered her daughter's remains, she jumped to join her; the two souls embraced and faded away.
• Su Cheng persuaded Manager Lan to hand over her certificate by implying she could enlist the ghosts in Building 4, then resigned from the job.
• Su Cheng exchanged contact information with Wang Tai after he recovered his memories and thanked her for helping him.
• After Xu Shaowei sent her a job listing, Su Cheng applied to be a sleep tester at Man Moon Hotel, where Yan Yu was staying.
• Su Cheng and Xu Shaowei planned to leave Red Moon Garden, and Xu Shaowei ended her lease and ignored a call from her fake father.
• Two specters outside White Moon City fretted that Xu Shaowei was no longer obedient and might not leave the city.

Su Cheng and Xu Shaowei arrived at the Man Moon Hotel as sleep testers, where they found suspicious stone markers beneath their beds and prepared to investigate. Their stay was set to grow dangerous after nightfall, while the purpose of the markers remained unknown.

• Su Cheng and Xu Shaowei warned two new residents at Red Moon Garden that Building 4 was haunted before leaving for the Man Moon Hotel.
• Su Cheng noticed an evil toad in the hotel lobby, and the receptionist directed her and Xu Shaowei to wait for Manager Lin.
• Manager Lin gathered Su Cheng, Xu Shaowei, Wang Yue, Lin Qing, and Gao Xiaoyun, had them sign liability waivers, and assigned them rooms on the fourth floor.
• Su Cheng photographed her room and found several piles of black stones arranged beneath the bed, then scattered them and alerted Xu Shaowei, who found the same markers in her room.
• Xu Shaowei told Su Cheng that the ghost mother and child had died by suicide after the mother was abandoned, and the two women planned to investigate the hotel before nightfall.