Materialist intern reporter Huang Canxi is assigned a task:
Infiltrate a company that handles funerary belongings and dabbles in the supernatural.
Is this company legit?
Word is they offer full benefits, no time clock, great pay, and a handsome boss.
The clients definitely won't talk back and cause trouble.
The job is sorting through the belongings of the dead, packing them up, writing reports, and shipping them out.
On Huang Canxi's first day, she sees her coworkers burning incense and feels her heart skip a beat.
She sees them offering tea to thin air, and her mind goes blank.
Then the doors open, a strange stench hits her, her legs give way, and she drops to her knees on the spot.
Huang Canxi quits on her very first day. Whoever wants this job can have it. But after running two subway stops away, she remembers she still hasn't gotten the handsome intern's number, so she runs two stops back.
She never expects that coming back will lead her straight to a ghost.
Even more despairing than seeing a ghost is finding out that the handsome intern is actually her boss.
Huang Canxi: "Boss, we're not going to get arrested for doing this kind of thing, are we?"
Zhou Ye: "... What? Why would we?"
To uncover the truth behind the deaths and help ghosts move on, Huang Canxi and her boss, Zhou Ye, venture deep into mountain wilderness and hidden corners of the city, exploring forbidden folk-religion sites and searching for treasure.
Boss Zhou Ye has half a Book of Life and Death in his hands, and is well versed in feng shui and the occult.
Client manager Huang Canxi is the strongest fighter on the planet. Human or ghost, she punches first and asks questions later.
Behind each conclusion of "not a homicide," the two find the true "weapons" that killed the deceased:
human nature, social conditioning, and curses.
Every time Huang Canxi collects a "tile" and ventures into the mountains, she gets one step closer to the mission carried by her bloodline, and to the truth about the disappearance of ghosts and gods beneath this land.
After collecting every fragment, Huang Canxi cannot bear the weight of the truth.
On August 30, 2030, she asks Zhou Ye to write her name on the last page of that half of the Book of Life and Death.
From that day on, under the vast heavens, there are no more ghosts or gods.
A collection of linked cases combining fieldwork on folk customs with urban supernatural tales. Each arc is a separate case, but they are all connected by the main plot. Happy ending!
The Filial Child Altar: Ailao Mountain, Yunnan
The Paper Doll's Hazy Village: Mibeizhuang Village, Hebei
The Blind Coffin Taboo: Zhangjiajie, Hunan
The Ghost Market: Mount Kailash, Tibet
The Cave of the Old: Changjiang County, Hainan
The Reincarnation Spell: Yichuan County, Shaanxi
The Parasitic Infant: ??
(Setting out a chair. The main story is told in third person.)
As the day of our appointment draws nearer, that memory grows ever more distant. I promised I would never make these things public, but at this moment, I want to leave something behind.
If you see this, please treat it as a story. Don't dig any deeper, and please don't disturb the people or monsters in it.
The world follows rules that are deeply rooted and unyielding.
-August 1, 2030
Huang Mimi
[orz This is an old novel of mine. Back then, I was trying to keep the number of chapters behind the paywall down, so I didn't dare write much in the first 70,000 words. That's why the pacing feels a little clunky. One day, I'll find the time to rework it, then invite everyone over for a taste.]
Theme: Promote Chinese culture
"Can't" When Huang Canxi first joined ECS, the person with the best relationship in the company was Dongdong. The two almost order takeout together, go out to restaurants together, and hang out together after get off work and weekends. She feels that Dongdong is the most compatible and the only normal person with sound mind in ECS. Until one day she planned to go to the kitchen to find something to eat. Gu Tianle: "Are you a dog?" Dongdong: "I am a dog." There was a pop, the sound of Huang Canxi's heart breaking. She was hurt that her friend was secretly being used as a dog for others in the company. Later, when she found out that Dongdong was really a dog and everyone's dog, she breathed a sigh of relief, but she was still worried about it. One time, after being under general anesthesia, she mistook Zhou Ye for Dongdong. She hugged Zhou Ye's arm and cried loudly, "Don't leave me!" In an instant, Zhou Ye's eyes became clear. He looked at the tearful eyes, and something seemed to pop out of his chest. He wiped away her tears again and again, and in the end he didn't forget to straighten the tangled bottle string, as if he was sorting out the numbness in his heart. "Stop crying... Canxi, stop crying." But the more he coaxed her, the more vigorously Huang Canxi cried, as if she had found an emotional gap, and her tears flowed endlessly. Finally, she shouted loudly, her voice resounding through the sky, "Can't you just be my dog!!?" Zhou Ye: "..." Dongdong and Gu Tianle accidentally became the audience of this accident: "..."
I feel like if the heroine can't get out, Li Renda will really want to bake her shoes endlessly [covering face and crying]
Looking at it this way, it seems that Zhou Ye's position as a god is hard to protect, but he may still have some authority. Chanxi is the last ghost.
Looking forward to the extra episode where the male and female protagonists are together 🥺
It's great. This chapter is like a long poem, like a hymn, a stream of consciousness masterpiece with a strong sense of rhythm and sonorousness. It's great.
Oh, a patriarchal society...
The best thing in this episode is the driver [Like]
Yes, "What is a fairyland without gods?"
😭 I get scared when someone goes offline
It's okay, it's time to play and write, write more and write more [empty bowl]