In Qingya Town, deep in the mountains of western Hunan, there is an alley called White Paper Alley. At its end stands the Chen family's paper effigy shop, passed down for six generations. On the surface, it makes paper offerings for funerals, but in truth, it guards a boundary. The smoke from burning paper effigies is meant to show the way. If the path is lost, the things beneath the earth remain among the living.
Chen Du is 26 and works in advertising design in Changsha. He has nothing to do with the paper effigy shop. That is, until his grandfather dies and he returns to town for the funeral, only to discover that he has been named as the shop's next keeper. Someone has torn out the final page of the ledger, which recorded the name of someone who “hasn't quite left yet.” If he refuses, that name will remain forever. If he accepts, he'll have to guard the shop, uphold its taboos, and keep watch over the things beneath the earth that should never have been left behind.
There are ten taboos in the shop: never paint eyes on a paper effigy, never open the door at midnight, never answer if someone cries outside... Each one comes with a terrifying price. Breaking each taboo brings him one step closer to the truth, and one step closer to the abyss. This is a story about keeping watch over paper effigies through the night, and about the living trying to find their way home.
