Eighteen chapters in, and then the real fun begins! Hidden among the steel and concrete of the modern city are the same tenderness and absurdity found in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. When a food delivery app displays the note, “Leave it by the stone bollard. Don’t ring the doorbell. I’m afraid I’ll scare you,” or surveillance footage shows an empty checkout counter scanning items on its own, you should know: tales of the strange have never really been ghost stories. They are simply the hearts of people who have never been truly heard, borrowing inhuman forms and waiting for another reply amid the bustle of everyday life.
