Novels like Tomb Raiding Tales from Republican China
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Tomb Raiding Tales from Republican China, best match first.
- 1 The Jiuzhou Investigation Bureau 九州调查局 I’ll use the eyes I have now to tell you stories from the past. From the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, all the way to the present, countless secrets lie hidden in the gaps of history. They wander between reality and illusion, concealed from the world. They are legends who have transcended reincarnation and blended into the mortal realm. A flower blooms with five petals, and the fruit comes naturally. The story of the Jiuzhou Investigation Bureau 294Reads—Score—Shelves
- 2 Strange Tales from Institute 507 507所异闻录 A poor rural student lands a secure job at a state-owned enterprise, but ultimately chooses to leave for good when he cannot fit into the workplace. Then a mysterious person enters the enigmatic “507” facility, and his entire worldview begins to crumble. From then on, the dangers only keep escalating… 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 3 The Mystery of This Life 今生谜 A voice recorder containing strange recordings sent me on a solitary journey to search for answers: distortions in space and time, ancient secrets buried underground, a dragon prince who killed his father, and a ghost tomb built according to the Eight Trigrams. Behind this succession of mysteries lies an epic capable of overturning the course of history. 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 4 After Several Reincarnations, I Revived My Beloved from a Past Life in a Tomb 几世轮回我在盗墓中复活前世爱人 A brand-new tomb-raiding universe! New settings, new battles, and a new style! It’s definitely unlike any tomb-raiding story you’ve read before. Blending tomb raiding, the supernatural, transmigration, immortality, Taoist magic, and more, the protagonist Xu Ran leads his two apprentices, Yi Shiyi and Hua Yang, through ancient tombs, uncovering the stories behind them and gradually solving a host of mysteries, including their own origins and Xu Ran’s most important mission: bringing his beloved b —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 5 Strange Happenings in Northeast China 我在东北的邪乎事 Friends, whatever you do, don’t read this book!!! Run!!! It’s completely absurd!!! See the final chapter for details. The plot is freaking explosive. No gore or violence, no superstition, no real-world allegories. Everything is kept simple: traditional fairy tales, a humorous style, clear and accessible language, and so on. 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 6 The Haunted Villa 幽灵别墅 The story begins with a mysterious invitation. The wheels of fate start turning for the protagonist, Derek, setting off a string of suspenseful, surreal, and thrilling adventures... —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 7 Moving Mountains and Commanding Ridges 搬山御岭 Whether you turn to tomb raiding out of desperation or in the hope of getting rich overnight, once you take it up, you're a thief. A thief is a thief. No matter how you dress it up or how many stories you tell, a thief is still a thief. Once you've done it, you'll never shake that label. I fell in with the wrong crowd by a twist of fate. After all the ups and downs, the trials and tribulations, I managed to make a little something of myself. If you'd like, I'll tell you my story, slowly and from 9Reads7.0Score—Shelves
- 8 Special Affairs Bureau: I Recruited Gifted Folk from Among the People! 特事局：我招募了民间异人！ After transmigrating into a world where the paranormal has returned, he unexpectedly becomes the director of the Bureau of Special Affairs! Yellow River Corpse Retriever: Once you enter the rivers, you become a traveler in a straw raincoat, wielding inscrutable powers to transform into a jiao dragon. Yin-Yang Master: Between yin and yang, he reads life and death, commands spirits, drives out ghosts, and establishes feng shui. Knife Peddler: The Ghost Valley formations turn eight thousand times, 93Reads8.0Score—Shelves
- 9 Memoirs of a Tomb Raider 盗墓者回忆录 [No System, not fanfiction, entirely original!!!] Tomb raiding is a technical craft. You must open a tomb without damaging it, and open a coffin without breaking it. This story begins in 1998 at Whitehair Mountain, on the southern slopes of the Qinling Mountains. Pagoda of the Buddha, Mound of Ten Thousand Bones: a tomb-raiding adventure with a suspenseful edge. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 10 Interstellar Affairs Investigation Bureau 异星事务调查局 A Chinese take on Men in Black meets The X-Files, focused on dealing with extraterrestrial affairs on Earth. [No harem, no System, no formulaic tropes, no invincible protagonist, no mindless plot, and no wish-fulfillment. Please read with care if these bother you.] [Urban + aliens + parasites + light horror] Chen Le never imagined... that when he went to the teachers' office to hand in his homework, he would see tentacles emerging from beneath his homeroom teacher's pant leg! As more and more bi 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 11 Paranormal Affairs Office 灵异管理处 My name is Yin Yu. I'm a Taoist priest. I used to be just an ordinary person among the masses. By a twist of fate, I joined a special department called the Paranormal Administration. The five arts of mountain, medicine, destiny, physiognomy, and divination; the shamanic spirit mediums of the Northeast; the Hunan and western Hunan arts of gu poison and the Flower-Falling Cave Maidens; reincarnated tulkus of Tibetan Buddhism; protecting a flood dragon as it enters the sea and transforms into a dra 75Reads—Score—Shelves
- 12 With Spiritual Energy Depleted, How Can I Improve My Cultivation? 灵气枯竭，如何提升修为？ (Tomb raiding + supernatural horrors + ominous places of great danger + cultivation + flirting) A slow-paced urban cultivation story set in a world where spiritual energy is drying up. On his way to breaking through to the next cultivation level, the protagonist encounters one bizarre event after another. He explores mysterious ancient tombs and ventures into eerie places of deadly danger… As his cultivation improves, his body begins to show some unusual changes. Whenever he meets a pure, belove —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 13 Republic-Era Strange Tales: The Fish Demon 民国怪谈：魑魅怪鱼 In the final years of the Ming dynasty, hundreds of people in Lingsi County, Jiangnan, died in a single night. All had been disemboweled, and their deaths were gruesome. Rumor had it that a monster in the lake was wreaking havoc. The outlandish tale endured for a hundred years, until the Republican era, when an obscure young man, armed with little more than courage and passion, uncovered the astonishing truth behind the century-old legend. 78Reads9.0Score—Shelves
- 14 The Village That Vanished Overnight in the Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi, 1987 1987年陕西秦岭一夜消失的村庄 A village in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi vanished overnight in 1987 —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 15 The 749 Bureau’s Qinling Mountain Villa Demolition Incident 749局秦岭山别墅拆迁事件 The 749 Bureau's Qinling Mountain Villa Demolition Incident 23Reads—Score—Shelves
- 16 Paranormal Investigation Notes 探灵笔录 A fortune-teller said I was a child sent by a hundred ghosts, and that I was destined to deal with the dead all my life. So I chose to become a forensic pathologist, working at the boundary between life and death. In ancient times, people called this profession a coroner’s. We were considered ill-omened and ranked among the lowest of occupations. Over the years, I’ve handled all kinds of bizarre and uncanny cases. I’ve recorded these terrifying incidents, which no living person should get involv 31Reads6.9Score—Shelves
- 17 Ren's Storytelling 持仁讲故事 An 80th-generation disciple of Maoshan Shangqing, long resident at the Jade Emperor Palace. Recording strange tales heard from my senior brothers, along with stories submitted by netizens. None have been verified, so please don’t take them as fact. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 18 The Lamp Blower 吹灯者 Deep in a ravine on the Loess Plateau lie the secrets of a dynasty, sealed away when Cao Cao established the Gold-Touching Captains. Sixteen-year-old Qin Xiao accidentally awakens the yin-yang eyes inherited through the Qin bloodline when he touches a bronze compass in a collapsed Dragon King Temple. Those gray-white eyes can pierce the earth and glimpse the flow of qi meridians, revealing the ancient tomb complex known as the “Nine-Bend Linked Citadels,” formed when the Yellow River changed cou —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 19 The Dragon-Seeking Mystery 寻龙诡藏 It all began in 1999, when Chen Yuan traveled from Shaanxi to Beijing's Panjiayuan to trade antique bronze fragments and met Liu the Fatty. “Boss, how much for this thing?” a deep voice called from above. Chen Yuan looked up and saw a burly, fat man squatting across from him. The man wore a wrinkled white undershirt, a gold chain around his neck, and held a handful of melon seeds, crunching away with relish. A funny tomb-raiding adventure novel —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 20 Tomb Raiding: I Get Stronger by Touching Corpses After Burying the First Emperor Alive 盗墓，活埋始皇陵我摸尸就变强 Gao Yong was an ordinary tomb raider who only wanted to find riches in a mysterious ancient tomb. He never expected to be buried alive. But that was when the wheels of fate began to turn: at the brink of death, he unexpectedly activated the Corpse-Touching Power-Up System. Every time he touched an ancient corpse, his strength skyrocketed. Power, agility, swordsmanship, and all kinds of other formidable abilities came flooding in. Deep beneath the earth, the Mausoleum of the First Emperor was pac 21Reads—Score—Shelves
- 21 Tomb Raiding: Strange Encounters in the Tomb 盗墓风云之墓室奇遇 —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 22 Legend of the Gold-Touching Captain 摸金校尉传奇 Li Yi, an antiques shop owner and heir to a line of Mojin Captains, embarks on a thrilling adventure after discovering a mysterious ancient scroll. He forms a team with an archaeologist, an adventurer, and a computer hacker, then ventures into a mysterious ancient tomb, where they face peril after peril. After breaking an ancient seal, confronting guardian spirits, and escaping a collapsing tomb, they follow a new lead into a mysterious valley, where they uncover more astonishing secrets and hid —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 23 Bureau 749: The Ghostly Hollow of Wawu Mountain, Sichuan 749局—四川瓦屋山迷魂凼。 749 Bureau: The Bewildering Hollow at Mount Wawu, Sichuan. 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 24 The Dragon Vein of Cangshan 苍山龙脉 A bronze coffin unearthed beneath the Qinling Mountains reveals a secret buried for a thousand years. Shen Ling, a retired soldier and heir to a line of tomb raiders, is forced back into the trade after finding half of a dragon-patterned jade pendant left behind by his uncle before he disappeared. He turns to his childhood friend Jiang Kui, who made his fortune dealing in grave goods at Babaoshan, and meets Gu Qingyan, an archaeologist willing to do anything to find her father. More terrifying s 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 25 Dragon Seeking 寻龙 Forty years ago, a great flood unearthed an ancient Warring States tomb. Forty years later, a mysterious will from my grandfather leads me back into the tomb. Carve corridors through mountains and hollow them out for tombs! How many secrets lie hidden in the tombs of ancient kings? To find a dragon, seek the mountain's winding folds. Each winding ridge marks another pass; If a gate has a thousand locks, a prince or lord must surely lie within. Only when I opened the coffin did I realize that som 930Reads6.6Score104Shelves
- 26 749 Bureau: Classified Files 749局秘闻 Have you heard of Bureau 749? Some say it’s a classified agency. Others say it’s a mysterious organization that researches supernatural phenomena. Still others believe Bureau 749 investigates and covers up cases involving extraterrestrial life forms appearing within the country. Which of these rumors is true? I didn’t know either, until I got caught up in a bizarre murder case and became a member of Bureau 749. That’s when I discovered that the bureau was far more complicated than anyone could i 328Reads7.7Score103Shelves
- 27 Ghost Lantern: The Secret Mausoleum of the Funeral Home 鬼点灯之义庄秘陵 They say ghost lights often appear in desolate places, among ancient tombs and shadowy woods. As the saying goes, where ghost lights glow, dark shadows fall! They warn anyone who comes near to leave at once. Do not disturb the spirits sleeping in their tombs! 365Reads—Score—Shelves
- 28 The Grave Robbers' Chronicles: An Autobiography 盗墓笔记：自传 [Tomb Raiding + Mystery + Early Growth + Later Power Fantasy] My name is Wang Yifan, and I’m a college student. One day, I saw my girlfriend, “Meng Yao.” Not just one, but two identical Meng Yaos. I wanted to investigate the matter, so I sought out the Faqiu Sect. Then one day, after making thorough preparations, I ventured deep into the uninhabited wilderness of Lop Nur and witnessed one strange event after another: “Snow monsters?” “The Demon Tomb of Cancong?” “Instant teleportation?” “The Twi 5Reads—Score—Shelves
- 29 Forbidden Code (Original Title: Ancient Tales of the Yellow River) 禁忌密码（原名：黄河古事） The great river flows ever eastward, nurturing China's most ancient and brilliant civilization. For thousands of years, countless people have tried to uncover its secrets, yet no one knows what truly lies hidden in its waters. Corpses embracing boats, ghosts sailing vessels, strange stone coffins sunk beneath the riverbed, nameless bodies rising from the dead... A river diver who grew up along the Yellow River takes you back thirty years, to an era brimming with bizarre mysteries and thrilling t 170Reads—Score—Shelves
- 30 The Hermit of Taihang's Seventh Book 太行散人的第7本书 Liu Mang and his brothers take over a whole street and celebrate in high spirits. An old Taoist declares him to be the Golden Boy and forcibly arranges a Jade Girl for him. They “agree” to go awaken the Golden Boy, never expecting to be sent to an age torn apart by war... No System, no old sage to guide him: what is he supposed to do? 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 31 Demon-Slaying Journal 除魔手记 Are you sure that everything you see is real? Do you believe that people who live forever really exist? Can everything you've encountered be explained by science? Fortune tellers, Taoist masters, monks who cultivate in temples: they all appear in the mysterious cases of history... —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 32 Thirty Thousand Days 三万天 The inspiring story of a young person striving through life in the modern era. Undaunted by hardship and ready to fight, they grow and transform, living with discipline and confidence. Young, determined, and full of life, they never give up, with sunshine and a bright future ahead. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 33 The Secret Records of the Mountain Movers 搬山秘录 During Beijing's damp plum-rain season, Zhang Tian, a history graduate obsessed with antiques, happens upon a mysterious old man in Panjiayuan. Along with an ancient bronze mirror, he unexpectedly acquires a book called The Secret Records of the Mountain Shifters, its pages steeped in an eerie aura. Tucked between the yellowed sheets is half a jade pendant engraved with the Big Dipper. Phrases hidden in the notes, such as “Mountain Shifters specialize in breaking mechanisms,” seem to open a door —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 34 Your Diary 你的日记本 You suddenly come across a diary. The handwriting is clearly yours, yet you can't remember writing any of it. Curious, you decide to open it and take a look. Maybe it would be better to read it tonight. 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 35 I Joined a Yangtze River Sand-Dredging Crew and Pulled Up a Ghost Bride with My Own Hands 我在长江捞沙队，亲手捞上鬼新娘 “Folklore,” “ghosts and monsters,” “the supernatural,” “mythology” The sand-dredging crew pulled up a ghost bride who had been offered to the River God. From then on, the bride began haunting them, and strange things kept happening. The River God was furious, too, and demanded that we give him an explanation! With no other choice, I went with the crew to the River God’s lair. There, we came across countless monsters from legend: yuan dragons, flood dragons, corpse-liberation rings... We also unc —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 36 Recollections of the Tomb-Raiding Years 追忆盗墓年月 In the early years of the Republic, tomb robbing was all the rage. The trade was split between northern and southern factions, each further divided into more than a dozen gangs, with countless complications within every group. The ancient tombs were strange and uncanny, their twists and turns shrouded in mystery, and every one of them perilous! The suspicious tomb of Fengdu will reveal a hidden chapter of human history... 601Reads—Score—Shelves
- 37 Bureau Zero-One 零一局 The Zero-One Bureau handles paranormal incidents. After the protagonist, Liang Yuzhang, was born, an old Daoist recognized his exceptional nature and took him in as an apprentice to learn Daoist arts. Starting in kindergarten, he helped people deal with paranormal incidents, becoming a minor celebrity in the surrounding villages. He joined the Zero-One Bureau in middle school, and after joining, handled all sorts of supernatural cases involving ghosts, demons, and monsters. These events also dre 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 38 I Can Join the Paranormal Investigation Bureau Too 我也能加入神秘调查局 My new work is here! You’re welcome to read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Your support motivates me to write, and I’ll do my best to tell every story well! 52Reads—Score—Shelves
- 39 I Open a Paper Effigy Shop in the City 我在都市开纸扎店 Li Xiaofan, the owner of a joss-paper shop in Jiangzhou, appears to be an ordinary young man, but is actually a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Age of the Decline of the Dharma. Hidden among the common people, he crafts paper offerings to guide the dead into the afterlife. But after a bizarre incident at a funeral home, where a paper figure swallowed someone's heart, he draws the attention of the secret government agency Dragon Hidden. Dragon Hidden is a mysterious organization that has existed —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 40 I Guarded a Top-Secret National Secret on the South China Sea Floor for Eighty Years 我在南海海底守了八十年国家绝密 A deep-sea mystery. A thousand meters beneath the ocean, he saw a sight that defied everything he knew: an ancient stone city, pitch-black from end to end, hanging upside down over the abyss. Its walls bore carvings more than ten thousand years old. Even more terrifying was Peng Lizhen, an American scholar trapped in a time loop in 1939, deep within the city. At last, he learned that this stretch of ocean concealed a rift in time capable of tearing the world apart. 5Reads—Score—Shelves
- 41 Moonlit Mountains and Rivers 明月山河 (One heroine, System, not a wish-fulfillment story, angst, urban fantasy, alternate history, dual transmigration) Proceed with caution. Liu Qi, a high school senior, just wants to get through evening study hall, memorize his vocabulary, finish his fried chicken, and get into college. But the moon keeps growing brighter, the atmosphere grows stranger, his older sister grows more mysterious, and even history starts taking a different turn. He thought his life was all about “the college entrance ex —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 42 The Bureau of Foreign Affairs' Strange Tales 外事局诡闻录 All the petty affairs of the world are interactions between people. Whether good or bad, they belong to the realm of internal affairs. Anything beyond ordinary human life, anything ordinary people cannot accept, belongs to external affairs. That is the meaning behind the name of the External Affairs Bureau. Skin-Human Ravine, the Five Barbarians' Ghost Cave, a thousand corpses vying to steal fortune, a mother and daughter possessed by yin spirits, a ghostly yang infant... I experienced all kinds 3.1kReads8.7Score251Shelves
- 43 Top-Secret Files: Bureau 749 绝密档案：749局 [Superpowers + unknown creatures + based on true events] In a desperate situation, I killed my enemies with brain waves. After waking up, I took on a new identity and joined a national special agency, a mysterious organization hidden deep within China: Bureau 749. One unbelievable true case after another, things that should not exist are gradually coming to light… 2.5kReads7.2Score240Shelves
- 44 Sin 罪 A death-row inmate’s monologue on the eve of his execution. From stealing and robbing, to stumbling into the underworld, going to prison for his lover, then tomb raiding, heading to the Miao borderlands in search of an antidote, and being poisoned with a Gu curse... And the strange adventures that followed. The story moves quickly at first, but gets better and better as it goes on. If you’re interested, please let me tell you the whole tale. 92Reads—Score—Shelves
- 45 The Supernatural Incident Investigation Bureau 灵异事件侦探局 I was just an ordinary junior police officer, but I couldn't fight fate's wheel and got swept into a department I'd never heard of: the Paranormal Investigation Bureau. Joining the Bureau opened the door to a whole new and exciting life, but as one bizarre case after another came along, I gradually realized that everything had been predestined. None of it was a coincidence. 14Reads6.7Score—Shelves
- 46 Legend of the Dragon Squad 龙组传奇 There is a group of people who seem ordinary on the surface, but in secret they can travel between heaven and earth, subdue demons, and do the impossible. They are members of the Dragon Group. No matter how much they contribute to their country, their deeds can never be made public. Even if they die, their records can only be sealed away forever in the highest-level archives. 1.2kReads6.9Score107Shelves
- 47 Chronicles of Strange Happenings in an Aristocratic Clan 世家诡事录 Why do all the bones in a person’s body disappear after they die? Why can a corpse with no bones still stand like a living person? Why are young women in the city being drained of blood one after another? Why do their bodies become as hard as steel after all their blood is gone? Why do the places where these bodies are found always carry the rich scent of osmanthus? A horde of vengeful ghosts attacks, and their figures are behind it all. Why would they do such a thing? … So many mysteries await —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 48 A Collection of Urban Legends and Folktales 民间都市传说合集 This work is a collection of urban legends and folk tales from around the world, mainly introducing how to experience these urban legends. They are all real. After each urban legend, there’s a short story, some real and some fictional. I hope you enjoy them. 183Reads—Score—Shelves
- 49 Fantasy Begins in Republican-Era China 幻想从民国起 Huang Cong is an ordinary person who often reads novels and daydreams about having an extraordinary adventure of his own, until one day... This is a slow-paced story. It starts in the Republican era, and later moves on to otherworldly continents, ancient history, traditional fantasy, and more. 38Reads5.5Score—Shelves
- 50 Awakening My Supernatural Powers: My Years at the Special Affairs Bureau 异能觉醒：我在特事局那些年 With graduation just around the corner, I was specially recruited into a mysterious department. Can the superpowered people from Japan summon “shikigami”? I beat those “shikigami” until they were covered in bumps! The Nazi superpowered organization, the “Ahnenerbe” I’ll make them kneel and sing “Conqueror”! Tell the vampires and witches for me: When you get beaten, stand up straight! What elite troops? I beat the elite troops! Mighty China, your righteous spirit will endure forever! 20Reads—Score—Shelves
