Chapter Summaries

Shen Niannian identified and helped eliminate the ticketless paper figure on the Lightless Train, then arrived at Reflection Station and encountered Ning Hongzhuang, a peak A-rank mirror keeper who knew her from before. Ning Hongzhuang said Shen Niannian had been gone for a long time, but Shen Niannian could not remember their past, leaving her wondering what she had done before she disappeared.

• Shen Niannian used her Identity Archive to identify the paper figure in 19A as a ticketless substitute, and the attendant tore it apart.
• The train confirmed that the extra passenger had been eliminated and announced Reflection Station, warning passengers to safeguard their identities.
• Ning Hongzhuang boarded the train, recognized Shen Niannian, and asked why she had returned in pajamas and slippers after being gone so long.
• Shen Niannian admitted that she did not remember Ning Hongzhuang, who reacted with visible frustration and confusion.
• Ning Hongzhuang warned the little girl from Yellow Mud Station not to covet Shen Niannian's ticket, showing that she was protective of Shen Niannian.
• Shen Niannian realized that Ning Hongzhuang's remark was the first direct indication that she had once disappeared.

At Reflection Station, Ning Hongzhuang revealed that Shen Niannian had been active in Mirror City more than ten years ago before vanishing, but withheld the names of those who searched for her. As the train prepared to leave, a reflection boarded and began replacing Zhou Min’s identity, leaving the train to decide which of the two was the valid passenger.

• Ning Hongzhuang told Shen Niannian that she had caused trouble in Mirror City in the past and vanished from everyone’s sight more than ten years ago.
• Ning Hongzhuang said many people had searched for Shen Niannian but refused to name them, then warned that something had come to Reflection Station.
• Cheng Ye read the station’s rules and warned the players to keep their reflections on the platform and avoid responding to requests to switch places.
• Zhou Min responded to her reflection’s claim that her daughter was waiting at the station, and her reflection used the distraction to board the carriage.
• After the doors closed, Zhou Min’s name began disappearing from her ticket as her reflection gained a matching ticket, and the train began verifying which of them was valid.

Shen Niannian helped Zhou Min reclaim her identity after a reflection copied it, and the passengers connected the train’s identity-stealing rules. Ning Hongzhuang threatened a player who challenged her, then casually invited Shen Niannian to sit beside her.

• Shen Niannian used Identity Archive to discover that Zhou Min could reclaim her identity by reaffirming it and refusing to acknowledge her reflection.
• Zhou Min stated her name, seat, and destination, then refused to answer the reflection, restoring her identity as it tried to attack her.
• The train destroyed the reflection for interfering with identity verification and confirmed Zhou Min as the valid passenger in seat 8A.
• Cheng Ye connected the rules from Paper Figure Station and Reflection Station, concluding that the uncanny beings had to trick passengers into participating in the theft of their identities.
• Ning Hongzhuang warned a player who criticized her after his reflection turned to stare at him, then spoke warmly to Shen Niannian and told her to sit down.

Shen Niannian and the other players survived the Lightless Train’s stop at Eternal Slumber Station, but Li Cheng died after answering a sleeping passenger’s question. As the train headed for Homecoming Station, Ning Hongzhuang warned Shen Niannian not to assume the destination was truly home.

• Shen Niannian recognized that every passenger boarding at Eternal Slumber Station was asleep, even the gray-suited man whose eyes were open.
• Li Cheng answered the gray-suited passenger’s sleep talk, causing the passenger’s slumber to transfer to him; he could not be awakened and was left at the station when the train departed.
• Ning Hongzhuang ignored pleas to save Li Cheng but threatened the gray-suited passenger when it approached Shen Niannian, making clear that she protected Shen Niannian alone.
• The players’ tickets showed one ride remaining, and the train announced that Homecoming Station was the next stop.
• Ning Hongzhuang warned Shen Niannian not to rush off at Homecoming Station and said the real danger was deciding whether the place was truly her home.
• Shen Niannian wondered which place would count as home for her, since she was a transmigrator.

As the Lightless Train neared its final station, Shen Niannian and the others learned that they had to register Homecoming Station—not their real homes—as their destination. After Zhao Hao was killed by the false home he chose, the survivors registered correctly, and a mysterious world appeared outside Shen Niannian’s window before the train opened a door into white light.

• Cheng Ye warned the players to check their tickets when the conductor asked where they were going back to.
• Zhao Hao answered “Home,” boarded the platform marked Home, and was swallowed by the false image of his mother.
• Cheng Ye realized their destination had always been Homecoming Station, and the remaining players registered it successfully.
• Shen Niannian glimpsed a blood-red world and a towering palace, but followed the rules and registered Homecoming Station.
• The train announced that valid passengers could disembark, and a new ticket warning told them not to look back.

Shen Niannian and the remaining players left the Lightless Train, but the rule against looking back continued through the final corridor. Shen Niannian resisted a mysterious voice calling her home and escaped the instance, while the voice’s identity remained unknown.

• Cheng Ye warned the players to keep walking after they left the train, and Ning Hongzhuang told Shen Niannian that danger could follow her beyond its protection.
• Shen Niannian stepped through the white door and followed Cheng Ye and the other players along an endless corridor, ignoring voices that tried to make her turn around.
• Chen Zhiyuan turned toward the voice of his dead father and died, leaving seven players alive.
• The other players and Cheng Ye reached the exit, while Shen Niannian continued alone toward it.
• A mysterious man called Shen Niannian and told her to come home; her Identity Archive detected an uninspectable target with an ultra-high-level authority connection.
• Shen Niannian resisted the urge to look back, stepped through the black exit, and heard the man chuckle as the corridor vanished.

After clearing the Lightless Train with an S rating, Shen Niannian received an eerie dress and discovered that the powerful presence who called her home was identified as her father. Five days later, she entered the A-rank Dead Men's Theater, where she was assigned the role of a youngest daughter marked for sacrifice.

• Shen Niannian cleared the Lightless Train with an S rating, gained stronger physical and mental attributes, and received the A-rank eerie item Nightfall Lolita.
• Shen Niannian tested the dress and confirmed that it concealed her human aura and made her appear to be an A-rank eerie.
• The Identity Archive identified the mysterious high-authority presence from the train as Shen Niannian's father, but she could not access further information about him.
• The global audience reacted to Shen Niannian's second consecutive S-rated A-rank clearance, and Zhao Cheng raised the confidentiality level of her file while ordering the bureau not to provoke high-ranking eeries connected to her.
• Five days later, Shen Niannian was summoned to the A-rank instance Dead Men's Theater, where she received the role of youngest daughter and the act one identity of sacrifice.

Shen Niannian entered Dead Men's Theater as the Chen family's youngest daughter, chosen as a sacrifice to be delivered to the ancestral hall. After a player died for refusing an explicit action, a paper effigy took over his role, and Shen Niannian used her eerie outfit to frighten it while allowing the procession to continue.

• Shen Niannian and fourteen other players received their roles and learned that Act 1 required the sacrifice to enter the ancestral hall.
• Ye Qinglan organized the players, and Shen Niannian revealed that she could not deliberately leave the sacrificial procession.
• Wu Lei refused an explicit instruction to tie the red cord around Shen Niannian, and a hemp rope killed him.
• A paper effigy took over Wu Lei's role and approached Shen Niannian with the cord.
• Shen Niannian equipped Nightfall Lolita, frightening the effigy, then held out her hands and let it tie her up so the play could continue.

Shen Niannian entered the Chen family courtyard as the designated sacrifice, and she and Ye Qinglan improvised around the plot to avoid fully activating the bridal gown’s sacrificial status. When outsiders arrived to collect her, the matchmaker mistook Shen Niannian’s A-rank aura for that of an eerie being.

• Shen Niannian wore the Nightfall Lolita, terrifying the paper servant as it tied her wrists loosely with red cord.
• Shen Niannian and Ye Qinglan joined the Chen family sacrifice procession and learned that the youngest daughter could resist but could not leave the compound.
• Shen Niannian discovered that fully wearing the B-rank wedding dress would make the ancestral spirits formally recognize her as the sacrifice.
• Shen Niannian and Ye Qinglan negotiated for her to wear only the outer robe, and the theater accepted their plot adjustment.
• A corpse-faced matchmaker arrived with faceless bearers to collect Shen Niannian, then mistook her A-rank aura for that of an eerie being.

Shen Niannian and Ye Qinglan’s group repelled a Mourning Hall matchmaker who tried to take Shen Niannian, then escorted her to the Chen Family Ancestral Hall. Shen Niannian entered alone, only to be told to climb into a child-sized coffin as the first act reached its final challenge.

• The matchmaker tried to claim Shen Niannian, but her A-rank aura frightened the woman and her bearers into keeping their distance.
• Ye Qinglan identified the visitors as Mourning Hall escorts rather than members of the ancestral hall, and the Chen Family master ordered them to leave.
• The theater announced that the sacrificial procession had to reach the ancestral hall before the hour of the pig, so Ye Qinglan led the group down the steps.
• Shen Niannian found a child-sized blood-red box inside the ancestral hall and read the rule requiring the sacrifice to enter alone.
• Shen Niannian crossed the threshold, the doors shut behind her, and a voice ordered her to enter the coffin herself.

Shen Niannian survived the Chen family’s sacrificial coffin by entering it without wearing the complete bridal attire, causing the ancestral spirits to reject her as an official sacrifice. After Act One ended, the theater assigned her the role of a dead person for Act Two, despite her still being alive.

• Shen Niannian used Identity Archive and learned that the coffin could claim her life only if she was recognized as an official sacrifice and the coffin was sealed.
• Shen Niannian entered the coffin before the countdown expired, and the coffin lid slammed shut around her.
• The ancestral spirits found Shen Niannian’s sacrificial attire incomplete and failed to confirm her as an official sacrifice, so the hands beneath the cloth withdrew.
• Shen Niannian emerged unharmed, and the system announced that she had completed Act One and survived.
• The theater began Act Two preparations and changed Shen Niannian’s role to a dead person, leaving her confused because she was still alive.

During Act Two of the Dead Men's Theater, Shen Niannian played the Chen family's dead youngest daughter and discovered that the rules treated her character as dead even though she was alive. After Fang Kai was killed for denying her character's identity, Shen Niannian fought off a corpse thief while Ye Qinglan and the steward restored the Life Candles, but forty minutes remained before midnight.

• The players entered the mourning hall for Act Two, where Shen Niannian's role was the dead youngest daughter and the rules forbade the dead from leaving before midnight.
• Shen Niannian had Ye Qinglan cover her with a shroud so she could breathe without being watched by the living.
• When the Life Candles began going out and something knocked beneath the coffin, Fang Kai saw Shen Niannian open her eyes and shouted that she was still alive; the theater killed him for denying her character's identity.
• A corpse thief beneath the coffin grabbed Shen Niannian as the candles dwindled, and she hid beneath the shroud and kicked at its hand while Ye Qinglan told the steward to relight the candles in sequence.
• The steward restored all seven Life Candles, forcing the corpse thief to retreat, but the vigil continued with forty minutes remaining until midnight.

During the vigil, paper children repeatedly extinguished the Life Candles, and Liang Feng died after touching a candleholder while trying to steady it. Shen Niannian helped Ye Qinglan stop the children, but the second act’s final instruction suddenly told Shen Niannian to prepare to return to life.

• Three Lamp-Blowing Children entered the funeral hall and began extinguishing the Life Candles, forcing Cao Yong to relight them repeatedly.
• A household servant touched a candleholder to steady it and died when deathly pale flames consumed him; a paper effigy then took Liang Feng’s place in the role.
• Shen Niannian used Identity Archive to learn that attacking the Lamp-Blowing Children would temporarily stop them, then pointed one out to Ye Qinglan.
• Ye Qinglan decapitated one Lamp-Blowing Child, stopping the others from blowing out candles while Cao Yong relit all seven Life Candles.
• The third funeral bell rang, and the theater tickets announced that the vigil was entering its final stage and Shen Niannian must prepare to return to life.

Shen Niannian survived the Chen family’s final mourning and completed her return to life, while Lin Yue died after touching her before the ritual’s questions and answers were finished. Act Two ended, and Shen Niannian learned that she would play the bride in Act Three, “Ghost Marriage,” where she must not mistake someone else for her husband.

• Cao Yong guarded the life candles while Ye Qinglan fought the paper children, and Shen Niannian endured ghostly hands beneath the coffin until the final mourning ended.
• Shen Niannian sat up, but Lin Yue followed her private role prompt and tried to help before the return-to-life questions and answers were complete, so the coffin dragged Lin Yue inside and killed her.
• The master asked Shen Niannian where she had returned from, and she answered that she had returned from the ancestral hall.
• Shen Niannian blew out the center life candle while Ye Qinglan and Cao Yong kept the other six lit, completing Act Two, “Keeping Vigil.”
• Shen Niannian’s ticket assigned her the role of bride in Act Three, “Ghost Marriage,” and warned her not to mistake someone else for her husband.

Shen Niannian faced the ghost wedding’s groom selection, where she had to identify the real groom among three candidates. The arrival of Xie Linyuan, a peak A-rank weird who already knew her, left the courtyard stunned when he asked if he could back out of marrying her.

• The Chen Family compound transformed for the ghost wedding, and the players received new roles and rules requiring Shen Niannian to choose one of three groom candidates.
• Ye Qinglan told Shen Niannian their goals aligned, while the group realized choosing the wrong groom would immediately complete the wedding.
• The Hanged Ghost and the Mouth-Cut Ghost arrived as the first two groom candidates.
• Xie Linyuan arrived as the third candidate, and his peak A-rank presence silenced the other weirds.
• Xie Linyuan recognized Shen Niannian and asked whether he could back out of the wedding.

Shen Niannian uncovered the real groom in the Chen Family’s ghost marriage and chose Xie Linyuan, after Ye Qinglan found the genuine Night-Pattern Marriage Seal. The fake grooms were eliminated, but the Dead Men’s Theater then demanded that Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan complete three bows, after which she would officially belong to him.

• Xie Linyuan tried to back out of the ghost marriage, but the Dead Men’s Theater sealed the courtyard and gave Shen Niannian fifteen minutes to choose a groom.
• Xie Linyuan hinted that the answer lay in the Chen Family’s records, and Shen Niannian learned he knew her and was reluctant to discuss her father.
• Ye Qinglan found role memories stating that the Chen Family had received a black-and-gold Night-Pattern Marriage Seal and kept it in the ancestral hall.
• The hanged ghost produced a fake seal and attacked Ye Qinglan and Shen Niannian, so Xie Linyuan restrained it while Ye Qinglan fetched the genuine seal.
• Ye Qinglan returned with the authentic seal, and Shen Niannian’s Identity Archive confirmed that her marriage partner belonged to the Night Capital and was present; she chose Xie Linyuan.
• The theater confirmed Xie Linyuan as the true groom and destroyed the fake grooms, then ordered the pair to perform three bows that would make Shen Niannian officially belong to him.

Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan discovered that the wedding vows could bind their characters rather than their real identities, then stopped two Marriage-Borrowing Ghosts from replacing the elders. As they prepared to complete the final bow, an S-rank woman with a blood-red umbrella appeared at the gate and recognized Shen Niannian.

• The wedding matron’s task required her to announce the bride and groom’s names, so Shen Niannian persuaded her to use their characters’ titles instead of their real names.
• Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan completed the first bow and established the first part of their Theatrical Marriage Contract.
• Ye Qinglan spotted that one of the apparent elders had no shadow, and Shen Niannian stopped the second bow and placed the Chen Family master and the paper mistress in the elder seats.
• Two B-rank Marriage-Borrowing Ghosts attacked the elders, but Ye Qinglan and Cao Yong held them off while Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan completed the second bow, forcing the ghosts underground.
• As Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan prepared to bow to each other, an S-rank woman carrying a blood-red paper umbrella appeared outside the gate and reacted with shock and amusement.

Shen Niannian discovered that the ghost marriage contract still bound her and Xie Linyuan by their real names, then used the bridal gown to confirm their roles and complete the wedding bows. As Act Three ended, the Dead Men's Theater summoned the surviving actors back for the final act, “Who is dead.”

• Su Wangyin, an S-rank guest of the Dead Men's Theater, arrived to watch Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan’s wedding and teased Shen Niannian about her childhood and her father.
• Shen Niannian inspected the marriage contract and realized it still listed her and Xie Linyuan by their real names instead of their assigned roles.
• Su Wangyin refused to interfere but asked Shen Niannian who she was, leading Shen Niannian to realize she had not completed the bride’s costume.
• Ye Qinglan brought over the Chen Family bridal gown, and Shen Niannian put it on to confirm her bride role and change the contract’s binding targets to their roles.
• Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan completed the final bow, finishing Act Three and establishing the theatrical marriage between their roles.
• The theater announced that the final act, “Who is dead,” was about to begin and ordered all surviving actors back to the stage.

Shen Niannian and the other actors faced the final act’s questions, where a wrong answer meant death. She correctly identified the Second Young Master as the dead person in the play, but the audience immediately asked who had killed him.

• The theater brought back paper stand-ins for the four dead players and required all fifteen roles to remain onstage for the final act.
• When the audience asked who the dead person was, Ma Hui wrongly named Servant A and was killed, then replaced by a paper figure.
• Shen Niannian realized Zhang Yu’s Second Young Master had remained dead throughout the play, and Su Wangyin hinted that the answer was someone who had appeared alive since the first act.
• Shen Niannian answered that the dead person was the Second Young Master, and the audience accepted the answer.
• The audience asked who had killed the dead person, leaving the actors facing another question.

In the Dead Men's Theater, Shen Niannian and the others discovered that the Chen Family master—not the youngest daughter—killed the second young master to silence him, and they answered the second question correctly. The theater then demanded they choose which of the fifteen characters truly deserved to die, warning that their choice would cause a real death.

• The players received memories showing that the youngest daughter stabbed the second young master, and Guo Ming was killed after wrongly naming her as his killer.
• Zhang Yu's death memories revealed that the second young master survived the stabbing, while the Master's hidden memories showed the Chen Family master killed him to silence him.
• Shen Niannian checked the Identity Archive and confirmed the Master was responsible for the second young master's true cause of death.
• Shen Niannian answered that the Chen Family master killed the second young master, and the theater marked the answer correct.
• The theater presented its third question and told the players to choose which of the fifteen characters truly deserved to die.