The fourth-floor corridor was narrow. Standing in the living room, Jiang Qianyu could just make out the scene outside through the open wooden door.

At least a dozen people crowded the hallway—men and women, young and old.

Every single one had appeared in the white-clad woman’s memories.

All were perpetrators. Now controlled by her spirit, they’d unconsciously gathered before this apartment door, reenacting the cruelty they’d inflicted on her in life—only now, Jiang Qianyu was the target.

She never imagined the real threat in this mission wouldn’t be the dead… but the living.

Yes. The living.

She was certain: heartbeats, body heat, warm blood. They were alive.

Only their muddled minds and tainted souls set them apart.

Behind each stood a ghost in white. At first glance, it seemed the specter puppeteered them into this hollow, zombie-like state.

But Jiang Qianyu couldn’t be sure anymore—was there only one corrupted entity in this building… or was the entire structure crawling with monsters?

She’d always believed eerie horrors were the dead, vengeful spirits.

Now, watching the tenants pressed against the door, a chilling thought surfaced: *Can the living become corrupted monsters too?*

And if she killed them now… would it be murder… or mercy?

·

·

“I’m back!” Lu Yunzhi pushed open the video store door and spotted Jiang Qianyu right away—seated in her wheelchair, scrolling through her laptop.

“I swung by headquarters and grabbed all my gear. Once I hook this up, you can stay home and sync with me—like watching a first-person live stream.”

She stepped behind Jiang Qianyu, voice light.

She’d shoved the Guild troubles to the back of her mind.

Work stress never crossed this threshold. That was non-negotiable.

Their “family” felt like kids playing house—silly, fragile—but still, a home.

Then she saw the screen.

And froze.

An unfinished report glowed on the display. Just over twelve hundred words.

Lu Yunzhi knew it too well.

She’d rewritten it endlessly, unable to submit.

The [Midnight Dollhouse] mission summary.

She’d killed a living man—seemingly unrelated, an outsider. Only she knew his true tie to the case.

His parents had wept at the police station until they collapsed.

So the report held no excuses, no moralizing. Only raw, tangled thoughts from deep inside.

To Jiang Qianyu, it summed to two words:

*Lost.*

Jiang Qianyu closed the laptop. “Sorry.”

She could’ve minimized it the second the door opened. But the words held her.

She hadn’t known Lu Yunzhi long, yet trusted her read: vibrant, carefree—a young woman whose presence felt like sunlight.

Especially as her legally bound “wife.”

But seeing this report, linking it to her own nightmare… complexity bloomed in her chest.

Lu Yunzhi wasn’t a sheltered girl. She carried a job where “carefree” was impossible.

Where ease was a myth.

A life on the edge of a knife.

Not just fearing death—but bearing the weight of taking one.

Justified… yet unsettling.

“It’s fine. Just a report,” Lu Yunzhi said. But Jiang Qianyu saw the strain in her smile.

“Why burden yourself?” Jiang Qianyu set the laptop aside. “He was guilty. Wasn’t he?”

The report laid it clear: the man’s link to Mr. Brown Bear. In Jiang Qianyu’s eyes, his death was necessary. Without it, Lu Yunzhi would’ve died.

“Yes. He was guilty. But I’m just a Hunter.” Lu Yunzhi sat beside her, head low. “I could kill Mr. Brown Bear—he was deeply corrupted. But that man… clean. No trace of corruption.”

“Our director always says: know your role.”

“We’re not judges. We don’t decide life or death.”

“No matter how vile someone is—if they’re not corrupted, justice belongs to police and courts.”

“We walk the night. We clear dangerous monsters to protect others. That’s why we’re Nightwatchers. Hunters.”

“Sounds a bit chuunibyou, I know. But it’s true. Only we can face those corrupted things.”

“So Xiao Yu… if a Hunter meant to protect becomes a bloodstained executioner… what is she then?”

“And most importantly…”

“We Nightwatchers can become corrupted too.”

Lu Yunzhi lifted her face. Her eyes held a haze Jiang Qianyu had never seen—raw, lost, matching her voice.

“Each of us—body, soul, spirit—is more sensitive than ordinary people. That’s why we’re more vulnerable.”

“Xiao Yu… once you’ve killed too many… there’s no going back.”