Retired and rehired, the strange circle turns the world upside down

Ying Yan is a software engineering student who leads a quiet life in the twenty-first century, unaware that she is a reincarnated hero from a world where urban legends manifest as deadly realities. In her past life, she served as the leader of the Vanguard Squad, a specialized unit tasked with entering corrupted legends to verify rules and protect humanity. Her unique ability, Flowlight, allowed her to generate weapons, but it became corrupted, twisting its cost from happiness to pain. After dying in that world, she was reborn as an abandoned infant and spent over a decade living as an ordinary person, suppressing her memories and abilities. Her peaceful existence is shattered when a mysterious, aggressive application called Weird Question appears on her phone. Unable to uninstall it, she falls asleep and is pulled into a chaotic, rule-bound room where her obsessive-compulsive tendencies are amplified. She survives by organizing the disorderly space and defeating hostile entities, such as sentient hair and food monsters, while collecting fragmented clues.

Ying Yan is then transported to a Round Table Meeting hosted by a masked figure known as Mr. Butterfly. This gathering brings together various humans and anomalies who must answer questions under strict rules: participants cannot leave their seats, must answer within one minute, and cannot disclose personal information. During the meeting, Ying Yan observes the deadly consequences of failure, including a boy burned alive for standing up and a girl devoured by a ghost for answering incorrectly. Using her analytical skills, she deduces the identity of a powerful black-hatted anomaly, Shi Jijie, by referencing an old news story about a abusive husband. Her correct identification forces the anomaly to reveal itself, demonstrating her sharp intellect and courage. After the meeting, she returns to her bedroom and identifies the Weird Question app as the medium connecting these supernatural events. She realizes that the app operates on similar logic to the legends she once fought, requiring players to survive bizarre scenarios by understanding and following hidden rules.

Ying Yan decides to participate in the app’s missions to gather more information and potentially find a way to counter the anomalies. She connects with other players, including a young woman named Yu Li and her brother Zhuang Ji, forming a team to tackle the first monthly mission: Midnight Movie Viewing. The mission takes them to a surreal cinema where they must watch a film called The Stranger Call. Upon entering, they are separated into different spaces. Ying Yan finds herself in a dark, enclosed room with hanging wires, having transformed into a ghost-like entity. Yu Li is turned into a brown bear in a snowy mountain, while Zhuang Ji’s location is initially unknown. Ying Yan uses her new abilities to communicate with Yu Li through an old-fashioned telephone, guiding her on survival tactics in the harsh environment.

As Ying Yan investigates her ghostly form, she discovers she can interact with the physical world to a limited extent and can see into other players’ situations. She learns that the movie’s plot involves a woman receiving calls from a deceased lover. Ying Yan realizes she has become the ghost inhabiting the telephone, a central figure in the legend. Meanwhile, Yu Li survives by foraging for food and eventually finds a phone booth, where she continues to communicate with Ying Yan. The team coordinates their efforts, with Ying Yan analyzing the rules and Yu Li exploring the terrain. Ying Yan also encounters other players trapped in different parts of the legend, including a man named Wang Lu who is being hunted by spirits in a haunted courtyard. She intervenes to save him, using her intimidating presence to drive away local ghosts and guide him to safety. Through these experiences, Ying Yan begins to piece together the larger conspiracy behind the Weird Question app and the anomalies it summons, setting the stage for further conflicts and revelations.