In 2025, Building 9 of the Wanghai Tower complex in Binhai City earned the name “Soul-Locking Building.” Thirteen mysterious deaths occurred there over ten years, all among residents of Room 302. Each victim died in exactly the way described by the “Soul-Locking Curse” in a Republican-era book called Secret Records of Forbidden Arts: their pupils turned pitch-black and vacant, a bloody curse mark appeared on their chests, and before dying they all claimed to have “seen a woman in a qipao.” The authorities classified the cases as “a string of copycat murders,” but the residents firmly believe that the remains of Su Yutang, a once-famous Republican-era opera singer, lie beneath Building 9. Betrayed by her lover, she was drowned in a pig cage and died a gruesome death. Her resentment congealed into a curse, and anyone who occupies her “yin ground” is doomed to suffer its backlash.
• The curse's mystery: Is a vengeful spirit really claiming lives, or is someone using the legend to commit a series of murders? The order in which each victim died and the details of the curse marks closely match Secret Records of Forbidden Arts. The killer, or perhaps the vengeful spirit, seems to be carrying out some kind of “ritual.”
• Psychological horror: Room 302 amplifies its residents' guilt, trapping them in “guilt-induced hallucinations.” Those who betrayed others see the people they wronged; abusers relive their violent acts. In the end, they destroy themselves in terror.
• Rule-based horror: Anyone moving into Room 302 must follow three “rules for survival”: 1. Don't open the wardrobe after 11 p.m. 2. Don't pick up the red embroidered shoes in the corridor. 3. Don't answer the singing that comes from the mirror. Anyone who breaks a rule will meet with disaster within 48 hours.
• A double twist: What appears to be a vengeful spirit's revenge conceals a family feud spanning three generations. The “Soul-Locking Curse” is a man-made murder method, while the ghost story is a smokescreen created by the real killer.
Very interesting, rich suspenseful horror novel