Li Lan “awakens” and is gazing down at a bedroom she initially does not recognize. There is an old woman in the room crying, leaning over the bed of a young woman. An older man enters the room and they call for a doctor to tend to the girl. The doctor determines that the girl is still alive and that she seems to have overdosed on a mixture that contained opium. Li Lan draws closer to the body, feeling a strange connection or familiarity. She lays her hand on the girl’s chest and with a sudden jolt she recognizes that she is the girl lying on the bed.

Li Lan tries to lie down inside of her prone body to reunite with it, but it does not work. Li Lan is surprised to learn that although she is some kind of non-corporeal spirit, she is not yet fully a ghost. She is not able to pass through walls, and if she makes contact with a physical form, such as another person, her body reacts to their touch.

She remains in the house, close to her body, for the next several days. She suddenly notices a fine thread near her body, emanating from a corner of the room and unseen by those in the living world.