"Ooh, I wonder if Li Qian's granny tried to sabotage the energy exchange somehow because she didn't want LQ's sacrifice? Maybe that's why she got stuck in the Dial and ended up with dementia?"

Oh ouch, it definitely sounds like something she would do, and it also sounds like something the Dial could do if someone tried to resist it as much as the Dial can be understood at all! (And I admire her willpower - whether it's for this reason or because she just wanted to say goodbye, she managed to make herself into basically-a-ghost in a universe that doesn't really have ghosts. Kudos. :))