Chapter Summaries

Jiang Li opened the mysterious chest and found a supernatural severed hand, then tried to figure out how to reach the supermarket’s second floor past the mass of ghosts. As he leaned against a freezer, he discovered a corpse inside.

• Jiang Li considered the chest’s promise to return supernatural objects in exchange for fierce ghosts and suspected it might carry a hidden risk.
• Jiang Li put the severed hand back in the chest because the ghosts crowding the escalators were too numerous to confront.
• A faint sound came from the freezer Jiang Li was leaning against.
• Jiang Li looked inside the freezer and saw a corpse.

Jiang Li escaped the first-floor ghosts and learned that He Lin’s Person-Hiding Ghost would kill him after appearing three times. When it appeared beside him for the third time, Jiang Li froze it with the severed hand, leaving them locked in a tense standoff.

• Jiang Li learned from Wang Shan that He Lin’s Person-Hiding Ghost targeted people by appearing and disappearing three times, after which its curse took effect.
• Jiang Li left Wang Shan, the young woman, and the old lady, then waited alone in a secluded corner with the severed hand.
• The Person-Hiding Ghost appeared near where Jiang Li had climbed up, marking its second appearance to him, and vanished when he blinked.
• Jiang Li counted down until the ghost appeared inches from him for the third time.
• Jiang Li swung the severed hand toward the ghost and suppressed it, leaving him holding it in place as he wondered how long he could maintain the stalemate.

Jiang Li returned after gaining control of the Person-Hiding Ghost and used its power to eliminate the hunger ghosts in the supermarket. With the first floor cleared, he called for the survivors to come down.

• Jiang Li realized the Person-Hiding Ghost had disappeared into his body, leaving him with its power and a deadly effect on ghosts that saw him three times.
• Jiang Li returned to the second floor and revealed the Person-Hiding Ghost’s face emerging from his neck, convincing Wang Shan that he had taken control of it.
• Jiang Li jumped to the first floor and used the Person-Hiding Ghost’s ability to appear and disappear while triggering and defeating the ghost infants and children.
• Jiang Li cleared the supermarket’s first floor and turned on the lights, while Wang Shan found He Lin’s body in the freezer and mourned his friend.
• Jiang Li appeared beside Wang Shan and called for the survivors upstairs to come down.

Jiang Li challenged the Ghost Tamers’ plan to enter the haunted hospital, shared information about the ghost infants, and negotiated to act independently with a severed hand and a Ghost Candle. He entered the hospital searching for a powerful finger hidden inside, but soon sensed something was wrong.

• Jiang Li told Wang Shan that he had to confront the disaster, then obtained a phone with the hospital’s location and a photograph containing Fang Shiming’s supernatural attack.
• Jiang Li rode with Sun Yi to the hospital, where Dachang City’s remaining Ghost Tamers had gathered.
• Jiang Li warned Wang Xiaoming that the operation would fail without better information and explained the fourth-stage ghost infants’ behavior and abilities.
• Jiang Li offered his severed hand as a means to suppress a fierce ghost and secured permission to act alone, along with Yang Jian’s Ghost Candle and a promise of additional rewards.
• Jiang Li entered the hospital and searched for the finger hidden in Wang Xiaoming’s gold box, but began to sense that something was wrong.

Jiang Li escaped the packed ghost children on the stairs, only to confront Ye Feng and the Hunger Ghost as the ghosts closed in. He reached Wang Xiaoming and the others, but Zhao Kaiming’s Wishing Ghost restarted the area, leaving Jiang Li trapped on the second floor again.

• Jiang Li found the stairwell packed with sleeping third-stage ghost children and chose to climb through them as a mass of footsteps approached from behind.
• On the second floor, Jiang Li encountered the ghost child Ye Feng and the Hunger Ghost, while the ghost children behind him opened their eyes and stood up.
• Outside, Wang Xiaoming led the group into the hospital, where they found Ye Feng’s corpse and concluded that the source ghost had consumed his two ghosts.
• Jiang Li rushed back to the group and warned them that a ghost was following him, while Zhao Kaiming quietly agreed to let his Wishing Ghost deal with Jiang Li.
• The Wishing Ghost restarted the surrounding area, returning everyone to the second floor and leaving Jiang Li in a dangerous position.

Jiang Li’s attempt to find the golden box failed as the Hunger Ghost gained the Ghost Shroud and Ghost Teeth, while Zhao Kaiming’s disappearance coincided with the hospital’s Ghost Domain receding. With the containment operation in disarray and Yang Jian nearing a ghost revival, Jiang Li brought his companions to Yang Jian’s safe house and agreed to discuss their next move privately.

• Jiang Li concealed himself from the Hunger Ghost and searched the hospital for the golden box, but found Yang Jian opening it first on the twenty-fourth floor.
• After the hospital’s Ghost Domain receded, Jiang Li and Yang Jian found Wang Xiaoming, who said Zhao Kaiming had been dragged away by a third-stage ghost infant and that Sun Yi and Zhang Han had been badly injured.
• Sun Yi died after asking Yang Jian to check how many women had accepted his online confessions; Jiang Li found one acceptance, from an account saved as “Honored Mother.”
• Wang Xiaoming said Ghost Tamer Headquarters could no longer contact Zhao Kaiming, while Yang Jian refused to continue the operation because his ghosts were nearing revival.
• Yang Jian used his Ghost Domain to bring Jiang Li and his three companions to Guanjiang Residential Complex, then invited Jiang Li to discuss the situation privately in his villa.

Jiang Li used the Human Skin Paper to find a way to stop Yang Jian from hanging himself and defeat the Hunger Ghost by stacking the Person-Hiding Ghost’s supernatural effects. He then revealed his Supernatural Treasure Chest, and he and Yang Jian put Wang Xiaoqiang’s corpse inside to test it.

• Wang Xiaoming urged Yang Jian and Jiang Li to help resolve the crisis, but Liu Xiaoyu said Headquarters had ordered him to stay under Yang Jian’s protection for fifteen days.
• Yang Jian showed Jiang Li the Human Skin Paper, whose first prophecy said the Hunger Ghost would overrun Dachang City if Jiang Li let Yang Jian hang himself.
• Jiang Li threatened the Human Skin Paper with a severed hand, forcing it to reveal a plan to stack the Person-Hiding Ghost’s power with Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain and suppress the Wishing Ghost.
• Yang Jian agreed the plan was more promising but said his Ghost Eye was near revival and he needed a way to relieve it before helping Jiang Li.
• Jiang Li showed Yang Jian his Supernatural Treasure Chest, and they placed Wang Xiaoqiang’s corpse inside to test whether it would produce a supernatural item.

Yang Jian and Jiang Li prepared for a dangerous operation against the Hunger Ghost, secured headquarters’ approval to use costly supernatural items, and drove to Dachang No. 7 Middle School. They found the school crowded with ghost infants, and Yang Jian warned that more were crawling out of sight.

• Jiang Li exchanged a ghost rope for a Yin-Yang Ghost Rope and proposed using the supernatural items in their next operation.
• Yang Jian arranged a conference call with Ghost Tamer Headquarters, and Jiang Li explained that Zhao Kaiming’s betrayal had left them short-handed.
• Yang Jian and Jiang Li told the senior leaders they might release additional vicious ghosts to improve their odds, and the leaders approved the plan and accepted responsibility.
• Yang Jian set out to secure his family and friends, then drove with Jiang Li through the dark city toward Dachang City No. 7 Middle School.
• Yang Jian and Jiang Li saw the school grounds filled with third-stage ghost infants, and Yang Jian warned that first- and second-stage infants were crawling on the ground too.

Jiang Li and Yang Jian confronted Zhao Kaiming inside the ghost-filled school while Jiang Li accumulated the Person-Hiding Ghost’s power for a decisive attack. Before they could use it, the Hunger Ghost broke into Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain, picked up Zhao Kaiming’s head, and began to swallow.

• Yang Jian used his Ghost Domain to lead Jiang Li into the school, and Jiang Li used a severed hand to temporarily stabilize Yang Jian’s condition.
• Jiang Li vanished near the third-floor restroom, where Zhao Kaiming emerged and began pushing back Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain.
• Yang Jian tore off Zhao Kaiming’s arm and later removed his head, but Zhao Kaiming’s body kept returning to it.
• Jiang Li warned Yang Jian to keep Zhao Kaiming inside the Ghost Domain while the Person-Hiding Ghost’s power gathered in his ghost finger.
• The Hunger Ghost tore open the Ghost Domain, picked up Zhao Kaiming’s head, and made a swallowing sound.

Yang Jian and Jiang Li faced the hostile ghost’s time restart, then tried to reach Zhang Han after Wang Xiaoming sent him as reinforcements. Yang Jian rescued Zhang Han from the approaching hostile ghost and restrained it with a withered hand.

• The hostile ghost restarted time by forty minutes, erasing Zhao Kaiming and the Hunger Ghost, while Jiang Li preserved the stacked supernatural attacks in his finger.
• Wang Xiaoming told Yang Jian that Zhang Han was coming to help contain the ghosts, and Yang Jian objected to the methods used to recruit him.
• Jiang Li realized the figure approaching Zhang Han was a hostile ghost, and Yang Jian used Corpse Oil Soap before opening a four-layer Ghost Domain toward the school gate.
• Zhang Han mistook the approaching ghost for Yang Jian, lost contact with the others, and feared he would never see his wife and unborn child again.
• Yang Jian reached Zhang Han in a red glow and restrained the hostile ghost by clamping its head with a withered hand.

Yang Jian and Jiang Li tried to restrain the Hunger Ghost while Zhao Kaiming attacked Yang Jian under the influence of the Wishing Ghost. When Yang Jian’s Ghost Eyes shut down from the strain of stacked supernatural power, Zhao Kaiming demanded more power from the unseen presence, then turned to look at Jiang Li again.

• Jiang Li amplified the certain-death curse with Yang Jian’s four-layer Ghost Domain and wounded the Hunger Ghost, then asked Yang Jian to keep stacking power.
• Yang Jian used the Ghost Domain to remove the ghost infants from the campus, but Zhao Kaiming emerged and joined the Hunger Ghost in attacking him.
• Zhao Kaiming resisted Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain and Headless Ghost Shadow, seized his leg, and tried to reach for his eyes.
• Zhang Han rushed to stop Zhao Kaiming, but his ghost arm tore free and was taken off before reattaching itself to Zhao Kaiming.
• Yang Jian’s Ghost Eyes shut down after the supernatural power exceeded their limit, and he told Zhao Kaiming to look behind him at Jiang Li.
• Zhao Kaiming shouted at the empty space beside him for more supernatural power, fired into it, and then turned back toward Jiang Li, finally seeing him clearly.

Jiang Li used the Yin-Yang Ghost Rope to hang Yang Jian and Zhao Kaiming, hoping its supernatural rule would save Yang Jian and leave Zhao Kaiming dead. The rope’s effects seemed to reverse his expectations, but black foam from Yang Jian’s mouth attacked Zhao Kaiming, and the outcome remained uncertain.

• Jiang Li killed Zhao Kaiming with a supernatural curse, though he knew the ghost inside Zhao Kaiming might remain, while the Person-Hiding Ghost threatened to revive.
• Zhang Han woke and, following Jiang Li’s instructions, found melted soap in Yang Jian’s hand and tied Yang Jian and Zhao Kaiming together with the Yin-Yang Ghost Rope.
• Jiang Li had Zhang Han carry him to face the hanging men, reasoning that Yang Jian’s position on the rope’s left side meant he would live.
• Yang Jian convulsed and showed signs of dying as Zhao Kaiming revived, prompting Zhang Han to worry that Jiang Li’s guess had been wrong.
• Black foam poured from Yang Jian’s mouth and nose into Zhao Kaiming’s ears and nostrils, turning Zhao Kaiming gray and covered in corpse spots.

Jiang Li transferred Yang Jian’s harmful supernatural effects to Zhao Kaiming, but the Person-Hiding Ghost began reviving as the Hunger Ghost approached. Zhang Han used Jiang Li’s photograph to summon Fang Shiming, who restrained and crushed the ghost inside Jiang Li; afterward, the Hunger Ghost resumed eating Yang Jian while the human skin paper crept toward Jiang Li’s body.

• Yang Jian’s Ghost Eyes and Headless Ghost Shadow attacked Zhao Kaiming, temporarily stabilizing Yang Jian as Jiang Li told Zhang Han to check his pocket for a photograph.
• The Hunger Ghost approached while the Person-Hiding Ghost revived inside Jiang Li, leaving Zhang Han trapped between the two threats.
• Zhang Han opened the photograph, summoning Fang Shiming, who used Ghost Wind to restrain both ghosts briefly.
• Zhang Han chose Jiang Li’s ghost as the target, and Fang Shiming crushed it with the Person-Crushing Ghost before disappearing.
• The Hunger Ghost resumed moving, and Zhang Han hid behind Yang Jian as it began chewing on him.
• The human skin paper slipped from Yang Jian’s pocket and crept toward Jiang Li, while the severed hand finally fell away from Yang Jian’s face.

Yang Jian woke after the Hunger Ghost nearly finished eating Zhao Kaiming, then learned Jiang Li’s ghost had partly escaped and needed to be found. The three went to Hongfa Temple to search for the Coffin Nail, where a frightened monk encountered them.

• Zhang Han watched a black hand drag Yang Jian and Zhao Kaiming beneath the ground, but Yang Jian soon reappeared in his ghost domain.
• Yang Jian learned Jiang Li’s ghost had partly escaped, and used his Headless Ghost Shadow to make Jiang Li travel with him and Zhang Han.
• Yang Jian decided to retrieve the Coffin Nail from Hongfa Temple as a way to restrain the Hunger Ghost.
• The three arrived in the temple’s Mahavira Hall and searched for the rusty Coffin Nail.
• A trembling monk entered the hall with a flashlight and asked what the three were doing there.

Jiang Li, Yang Jian, and Zhang Han entered Hongfa Temple’s sealed basement to retrieve the Coffin Nail and discovered a tree covered in corpses and silent crows. After the crows vanished and the ground shook, Wang Xiaoming reported that the Ghost Rope was carrying figures toward one place in downtown Dachang City.

• Jiang Li and Yang Jian told the frightened abbot they had come for the Coffin Nail, and the abbot allowed them to take the temple’s treasured artifact to fight the ghosts in Dachang City.
• Jiang Li broke open the basement door, and Yang Jian used his Ghost Eyes to reveal a towering tree bearing a featureless black figure pinned by the Coffin Nail and surrounded by crows.
• Jiang Li suspected the crows were vicious ghosts and warned Zhang Han to wait, but Yang Jian called him over to gather gold foil for removing the nail.
• The crows silently faced Jiang Li, then flew into the darkness as the ground shook and the basement bricks cracked.
• Jiang Li urged Yang Jian to contact Wang Xiaoming, who reported that figures were hanging from ropes and moving toward one place in downtown Dachang City; Yang Jian recognized the Ghost Rope.

Yang Jian and the others shared the ghosts’ killing patterns and prepared to confront the Hunger Ghost with the Coffin Nail. Elsewhere, an isolated resident survived the Ghost Hand’s attack briefly, but the face-dragging ghost appeared in his apartment and left his fate uncertain.

• Yang Jian told Wang Xiaoming about the known ghosts, and Zhang Han suggested the Ghost Hand attacked people whose feet left the ground.
• Wang Xiaoming arranged to broadcast the ghosts’ killing patterns and urged Yang Jian to prioritize the Hunger Ghost.
• Jiang Li and Zhang Han returned the gold foil, and Yang Jian said he would invade the Hunger Ghost’s Ghost Domain and drive the Coffin Nail into its head.
• A man in Dachang City heard the broadcast, found his cat, and was caught by the Ghost Hand when he tried to stop the cat from jumping.
• The man held his cat and avoided looking toward the kitchen, but the face-dragging ghost appeared on the floor before him.

Yang Jian, Jiang Li, and Zhang Han reached the Hunger Ghost’s location and learned that the ghost was gnawing through the Ghost Rope’s restraint. When Yang Jian realized Zhang Han and Jiang Li had been affected by the Newspaper Ghost, he was captured too and led home to the ghost disguised as his father.

• Yang Jian and Jiang Li found a dead man holding a dead cat and saw ghost children hanging throughout Dachang City.
• Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain could not reach the Hunger Ghost, so Jiang Li proposed using the Person-Hiding Ghost to get close and drive the Coffin Nail into it.
• Zhang Han returned with a video from a supposedly occupied apartment, but Yang Jian recognized the building as his former home and suspected the Newspaper Ghost had affected his companions.
• Zhang Han attacked Yang Jian, and Jiang Li appeared inside Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain; a scrap of newspaper then merged into Yang Jian’s forehead.
• Yang Jian entered his old apartment with Jiang Li and Zhang Han, greeted the man posing as his father, and moved to turn on the living-room light.

Jiang Li and the others were drawn into a distorted version of Yang Jian’s home, where Zhao Lei’s memories began to surface and the supposed family gathering turned dangerous. Yang Jian started questioning the scene after Zhang Han found a black-and-white photograph of his father beside the bed.

• Jiang Li noticed that the people and circumstances in Yang Jian’s apartment felt wrong, while an unseen influence made them seem normal.
• Zhang Han coughed up blood, and Jiang Li glimpsed that the silent man reading a newspaper had a half-featureless face resembling Zhao Lei.
• The apartment door opened by itself, and a dragging sound approached from outside, so Yang Jian led the others into his room to hide.
• Zhao Lei accused Jiang Li and Zhang Han of being outsiders, then revealed that only Yang Jian, Zhang Wei, and he had survived the night of the Knocking Ghost.
• Jiang Li pinned Zhao Lei down as Yang Jian admitted he trusted the man outside because he believed him to be his father.
• Zhang Han found a black-and-white photograph of a middle-aged man beside Yang Jian’s bed, and Yang Jian took it and fell into thought.

Jiang Li recovered his memories and discovered that the Person-Hiding Ghost had joined with a pale-hand ghost, while the Wishing Ghost moved to take over the Hunger Ghost. As Jiang Li, Yang Jian, and Zhang Han descended to intervene, the Newspaper Ghost restrained the Wishing Ghost at the foot of the Ghost Child mountain.

• Yang Jian, Jiang Li, and Zhang Han realized the man outside was a ghost, and the Newspaper Ghost compelled Jiang Li to put on a strange sweater.
• The Newspaper Ghost disappeared, and Jiang Li and the others remembered that they had come to resolve the Hunger Ghost Incident.
• Jiang Li saw that the Person-Hiding Ghost had grown into half a body and taken the pale-hand ghost as a puzzle piece.
• Jiang Li recognized Zhao Kaiming’s Wishing Ghost controlling a Ghost Child and warned that it could combine with the Hunger Ghost.
• Jiang Li, Yang Jian, and Zhang Han carried Zhao Lei downstairs to take advantage of the clash between the ghosts.
• The Wishing Ghost approached the Hunger Ghost, but the Newspaper Ghost immobilized it with pieces of red newspaper.

Jiang Li and Yang Jian watched the Newspaper Ghost and the Wishing Ghost fight over the Hunger Ghost, then intervened when the Newspaper Ghost trapped the Wishing Ghost. After the Newspaper Ghost vanished, the Hunger Ghost began changing as the ghost children disappeared, and Jiang Li moved to contain it with Yang Jian’s help.

• The Newspaper Ghost covered the Wishing Ghost in bloodstained newspapers, while its restart ability let it evade the attack at first.
• The Newspaper Ghost altered the Wishing Ghost’s perception and immobilized it near the Hunger Ghost as ghost children flooded a residential complex and killed a screaming resident.
• Jiang Li sent the Person-Hiding Ghost’s shadow toward the Newspaper Ghost, and the Wishing Ghost freed one hand to shove the Newspaper Ghost into Jiang Li’s eerie finger, making it collapse into scraps.
• The newspapers vanished, and Jiang Li realized the ghost children had disappeared as the Hunger Ghost chewed through the Ghost Rope and seemed poised to change.
• Jiang Li rushed toward the Hunger Ghost, Yang Jian sent him the Coffin Nail, and the Hunger Ghost backed away as darkness engulfed Jiang Li.