The Yin Scab

The Black Scab is a long-form suspense horror novel blending folk legends with Lovecraftian despair. Set in the 1970s and 1980s, it follows Chen Jianguo, a former police detective reassigned to investigate a string of disappearances in Fenghuangling Village. There, he discovers he has fallen into a terrifying abyss beyond human understanding.

In this isolated mountain village, the ancient New Year painting The Seventy-Two Depictions of Hell is no lifeless object. It is a living curse, ravenous and desperate for blood and flesh to use as paint, and human skin as its canvas. During his investigation, Chen Jianguo meets Lin Wanjun, a folklorist burdened with secrets, and encounters Wang, the village Party secretary, a guardian who is neither wholly good nor evil. He also discovers that the scar on his temple is the mark of generations of "Night Watchers." As his investigation deepens, horrifying events erupt one after another: the walking dead roaming at night, resurrection in a pool of blood, and the industrial hellscape of a Third Front factory. Chen Jianguo gradually realizes that he has long been caught in a terrifying cycle spanning hundreds of years.

Through three central concepts, the "Painter's Bloodline," the "Night Watcher's Mark," and the "Eye of Guixu," the novel builds a dark universe nested within itself. From village to factory, from reality to another world, the protagonist struggles to survive as his sanity crumbles. At the heart of a cosmos made of blood and flesh, he ultimately faces a final choice: become a vessel for the curse, or awaken as something even more terrifying.

The Black Scab is not only a horror story that sends chills down your spine, but also a profound metaphor for the inheritance of memory and the wounds of history. When ancient taboos collide with modern reason, the truth is often more terrifying than ghosts. This summer, join us as we unveil this hellish scroll painted in blood and witness an ordinary