Lin Zhong, an executive, was haunted by recurring nightmares for three consecutive days: thick fog, hoarse sighs, and groping with bare heads and bare feet, making it difficult for him to sleep or eat well. Under the persuasion of his wife, he went to the old residential area in the east of the city to ask for help from a mysterious dream interpreter. The other party pointed out that he had a matter that had been pending for three years and directed him to burn paper under the old locust tree in the east of the city to summon the soul.
Recalling the Qingming Festival three years ago, Lin Zhong rode alone to Qinwangzhai. On the way, he was accompanied by college student Xiao Liang and his "Sister Juan" Liu Juan. Liu Juan's expression changed drastically when she encountered a black off-road vehicle on the road. The man in the passenger's seat with a crew cut and sunglasses changed her face. Walking to Sheshen Cliff, Liu Juan left the forest, leaving herself and Xiaoliang behind. Lin Zhong stayed overnight at Qinwangzhai, and Xiaoliang responded to his call at night, saying that he lived at the foot of the mountain. But when he went down the mountain the next day, he only found off-road ruts on Sheshen Cliff, but there was no trace of Xiaoliang and Liu Juan.
Not long after, Lin Zhong came across the news that two people were killed in Qinwangzhai. When the police investigated, the resident of Qinwangzhai denied that he had stayed at the house on the night of the incident, and his memory began to deviate from reality. The case was solved, and the murderer was Zhang, Liu Juan's husband, who was suspicious of the murderer, but Lin Zhong was still confused about his whereabouts on the night of the crime.
In the end, Lin Zhong was sent to a mental hospital due to memory confusion. Only then did he realize that he was a witness to the murder. The huge mental trauma caused the brain to actively block memory. Nightmares and cognitive confusion are both manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorder. In the mental hospital, he unexpectedly met the murderer Zhang and the "lying" Qin Wangzhai resident again, and fear and confusion swallowed him up like a tide.
Purpose: The work uses suspense stories as a carrier to deeply explore traumatic memories, moral dilemmas and human weaknesses. It has both psychological depth and realistic critical significance, and ultimately points to the ultimate proposition that "only by facing up to the inner darkness can we avoid being swallowed up by it".