The Ancient Well in the Abandoned Village

1935, Yongshou Village. An ancient well wrapped in chains hides rules that devour people.

Chen Wenxiu has returned from studying abroad to his isolated hometown to investigate the truth behind his elder sister’s leap into the well. The village seems peaceful on the surface, yet everything about it feels strange: sobbing by the well at midnight, villagers who avoid saying too much, and his sister’s memorial tablet deliberately neglected. A battered diary reveals the humiliating past of a ghost marriage. And A Xiang, the “ill-omened girl” by the well, warns him of a deeper darkness: every thirty years, the village must choose a young woman as the “Water Bride” and sacrifice her alive to the ancient well.

There is no god at the bottom of the well, only centuries-old human bones and man-eating monster fish. Chen Wenxiu and A Xiang sneak into the forbidden grounds, where they discover piles of skeletons and a twisted truth: the so-called blessings of the Well God are a lie invented by the clan of village chiefs to monopolize the water supply. The underground monster fish, fed with living people, can dig deeper waterways, and this bloody pact has endured for a century. Chen Wenxiu’s sister was silenced for refusing to become the new “fish keeper.” Now another sacrifice is imminent, and A Xiang has been chosen as the target.

When the chains break and something crawls out of the well, the villagers finally realize that the most terrifying thing is not the monster, but the demon nurtured in the human heart. Amid explosions and flames, the ancient well collapses and the village is abandoned. Chen Wenxiu believes he has ended the cycle, unaware that the seeds of some evils have already taken root in the next generation.

Three years later, an anonymous letter arrives:

“It’s been thirty years. Time to choose a new Water Bride.”

On the night of the full moon, chains clatter once more beside the well in the deserted village. This time, can the cycle finally be broken?