In search of his sister Lin Wan, who vanished three years ago, Lin Zhou ventures alone into Guiyin Village, a forbidden mountain settlement absent from every map.
The village is shrouded in white fog all year round. Its alleys are slick, paper offerings litter the ground, and the villagers keep their heads down in silence. On a stone tablet at the entrance are twelve rules for staying alive.
“Once you enter the village, do not look back.”
“If you hear your name called in an alley, do not answer or turn around.”
“There are no living strangers in the village. Everything you see is an illusion.”
Lin Zhou thinks that if he can last seven days, he'll find out what happened to his sister and make it out alive.
But on the very first night, he hears her voice in the old house.
She presses close to his ear and softly calls his name.
He doesn't dare answer.
He doesn't dare turn around, either.
Only later does he discover that there are no living people in the village. The rules aren't there to save anyone; they're there to trap them.
The villagers are fake. The little girl who guides him is fake. Even the three years of memories he carries may have already been altered by the village.
Guiyin Village isn't a place.
It's alive.
It feeds on fear, obsession, and the souls of loved ones that people can't let go.
And the red coffin hanging from the treetop is waiting for him to climb inside.
Because he didn't wander here by mistake.
His sister's obsession lured him back, step by step.
