Novels like Black Nursery Rhymes
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Black Nursery Rhymes, best match first.
- 1 Marching Against the Yellow Springs: The Book of the Impermanent 黄泉逆行：无常簿 Have you ever narrowly escaped death? A car crash, a fire, or even a sudden slip beneath your feet... In that moment, you were grateful to be alive. But you don't know that from the instant you "accidentally" survived, your name was written in an invisible Book of Impermanence. It is no ghost or curse. It is a rule, the coldest correction program in the universe. From then on, the everyday things you rely on will become your tomb. The floor beneath your feet, the chandelier overhead, the cup in —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 2 Extraordinary People: Historic Moments in the Lives of 20 People 非常之人：20人的历史时刻 The historical figures we think we know may be no more than shifting illusions, continually reshaped by the writing of history. This book focuses on twenty people who played important roles in the grand sweep of history but have since been overpraised, distorted, vilified, or obscured. They include Confucius, Emperor Wu of Han, Li Guang, Yang Xiu, Sima Yi, Emperor Yang of Sui, Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Kublai Khan, Wei Zhongxian, and Nian Gengyao. Drawing on historical sources and offering fresh 55Reads9.0Score—Shelves
- 3 Archive of Anomalous Cases 异常项目档案 [Engineering Mystery + Folk Customs and Tomb Raiding + Anomalous Projects] Duan Zhiyuan had spent seven years working on IT projects and had dealt with all kinds of unreasonable clients. Then one day, a client came to him with a bizarre request: Install an access control system at an abandoned well. The well had been sealed for years. There was no passage at its mouth, and nobody went in or out. But every night at 3:03 a.m., the old System generated a card-swipe record. The cardholder was —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 4 Tales of the Countryside: My Grandma Was a Midwife 乡野怪谈之我的姥姥是稳婆 At the foot of Mount Maqi, midwife Zhang Guilan spent her life delivering babies on nighttime roads. Other midwives delivered human babies. The ones she delivered were ghosts, demons, and wronged spirits from the wilderness. Road-blocking skin-sellers, water ghosts demanding souls, Pixihuzi repaying a debt of gratitude, and Li the Bald-Tailed Dragon making his presence known. She didn't believe in the supernatural when she was young. Only after surviving countless dangers did she understand t 145Reads—Score—Shelves
- 5 Nightmare of Terror: Entering the Haunted World on the Red-Eyed Bus 惊悚噩梦：从红眼巴士进入诡世界 [Infinite flow + ghost survival + mild suspense + horror instances + no romance] “Ghosts cannot be killed. Only ghosts can deal with ghosts. Learn their patterns.” Lin Xi unexpectedly boarded a bus with no driver. The passengers here disappeared at regular intervals, and as more and more vanished, the survivors gradually uncovered the secret to escaping... Possessing a Nightmare Invitation means setting foot on a one-way road. At regular intervals, you are forced into the nightmare world to comp 56Reads—Score—Shelves
- 6 Six Hundred Years of Yin and Shang: The Yin-Zhou Revolution and the Rise and Fall of the Bronze Dynasty 殷商六百年：殷周革命与青铜王朝的兴衰 What unbreakable bond links the Shang clan and the dark swallow? What does Cheng Tang’s refusal to abolish the Xia ancestral altar reveal about cultural inheritance? What illustrious achievements did Fu Hao accomplish when she donned armor and led troops into battle? What role did diviners play during the Shang dynasty? China’s splendid civilization originated in prehistoric times and Xia culture, took shape in the cultures of the Zhou and Qin, and was founded on the six hundred years of Shang h 250Reads9.2Score102Shelves
- 7 This World Feels So Unreal 这个世界太不真实了 Also known as The Most Miserable Male Lead in History Two black-and-white doors, a strange journey across different times and worlds, and a terrifying conspiracy hidden behind it all. Will he save the world or destroy it? Wang Chunan, an utterly ordinary college sophomore, unexpectedly acquired two black-and-white doors capable of transporting him to other worlds during a baffling shooting incident. Through them, he glimpsed strange realms beyond the present world. Gradually, he seemed to become 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 8 Committing a Psychological Crime 犯心理罪 Yang Lingxiao is a top student who graduated from a prestigious police academy, but for some inexplicable reason, he is assigned to a security station in a small county town as a junior officer. He thinks that this is how his life will go from now on, but a major case brings him to the attention of the Special Investigation Group of National Security Bureau Six. Recruited into the group, he is about to face off against serial killers of every stripe. 116Reads8.6Score—Shelves
- 9 Afterlife Notes Bonus Story: Rouge Well 还魂笔记番外篇：胭脂井 Afterlife Notes: Bonus Story: The Rouge Well —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 10 Forbidden Tales of the Desolate Village: A Midnight Whistle, and a Shrouded Corpse Spirit at the Door 荒村禁忌：夜半吹哨，白布尸魂找上门 Taboos of the Abandoned Village: A Whistle in the Dead of Night, and a White-Cloth Corpse Spirit Comes Calling —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 11 The Age of Flintfire: A Future AI Travels Through Ten Thousand Years of Chinese History 燧火纪元，未来AI穿行万年华夏 The Age of Kindling: A Future AI Traverses Five Thousand Years of Chinese History is more than a transmigration novel. It is an ambitious experiment in retelling five thousand years of Chinese civilization through a future lens. It fuses seemingly incompatible elements of science fiction, cultivation, history, and wild imagination into a coherent universe, inviting readers to enjoy the story while reconsidering the eternal question: Where do we come from, and where are we going? When the fire of 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 12 Opening the Sparrow Gate 开雀门 While my mother was carrying me, I was sitting upright in her womb. The doctors all said the birth would be difficult, but my grandmother traded my life to a spirit messenger. My Xuanwu even went so far as to strip off his skin and bones for me! My relatives sought out one master after another to protect me, but sadly, they all said the good fortune I was born with was nowhere near enough to keep me alive. If I wanted to survive, I had no choice but to embark on the path of cultivation. From Sha 34Reads7.1Score—Shelves
- 13 Reincarnation Notes: An Extra Story, The Painted-Skin Debt 还魂笔记番外篇：画皮债 The Reincarnation Notebook: Extra Story: The Painted Skin Debt —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 14 Rift in the Abyss: We Awakened the Old Ones 深渊裂隙：我们唤醒旧日支配者 In 1992, U.S. Army Major Austin takes charge of the top-secret project "Abyss Watch." One hundred and thirty meters beneath the desert, a strange fissure spreads madness into the world above. Five elite soldiers are ordered into the abyss, with Austin directing their investigation remotely. A videotape that appears out of nowhere exposes a horrific secret from the past: To spy on the secrets underground, the military sacrificed living people. A thousand meters below ground, an ancient stone gate —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 15 Dark Fairy Tales: From the Start, I Meet a Deranged Old Woman 暗黑童话：开局遇到疯癫老太婆 [Horror dungeons + livestreaming + clever heroine + dark fairy tales + twist after twist + barely scary + no CP] Su Nuo was terribly unlucky. All she did was take a nap, and she was dragged into a dark fairy-tale infinite-game dungeon. Every player has a channel, and the entire game is livestreamed in the lobby! The eerie old woman in the candy house, the bloodthirsty little cabin, the seemingly friendly Little Red Riding Hood, the bizarre death of Grandma Wolf... In this strange and dazzlin 35Reads—Score—Shelves
- 16 Afterlife Notes: Blood Silkworms Raised on Babies 还魂笔记之血蚕饲婴 The Soul-Returning Notes: Blood Silkworms Feeding a Baby —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 17 Afterlife Notes Bonus Story: The Hundred Ghosts' Night Parade 还魂笔记番外篇：百鬼夜行 The Soul-Returning Notes: A Hundred Ghosts Roaming by Night —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 18 Born of a Corpse 尸生子 My mother-in-law was a midwife. When I grew up, I took over and delivered babies for women, becoming a male midwife. I deliver babies for the living, but I also deliver them for the dead... 172Reads8.6Score—Shelves
- 19 Afterlife Notes: The Eyeless Locust Tree Maiden Bonus Story: Blood Silkworm Thread 还魂笔记之无眼槐娘番外：血蚕丝 Afterlife Notes: The Eyeless Locust Tree Maiden Bonus Story: Blood Cocoon Silk 5Reads—Score—Shelves
- 20 Afterlife Notes Bonus Story: The Corpse Stitcher 还魂笔记番外篇：缝尸匠 Afterlife Notes: Bonus Story: The Corpse Stitcher 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 21 Notes on Returning Souls: The Eyeless Huai Tree Maiden 还魂笔记之无眼槐娘 The plum rains have swollen every brick in Green Tile Alley. When Lin Yan grips her grandmother’s death notice and opens the door to the old house, the sixty-year-old locust tree in the courtyard seems to be watching her through its cracked bark. The year her great-great-grandmother planted it, three children went missing from the alley. During all the years her grandmother kept watch over it, she would bury bloodstained silver locks beneath its roots in the dead of night. The last page of her g 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 22 Grandpa Started the Trouble, Three Generations Must Pay 爷爷闯下的祸，三代来还 The trouble Grandpa caused will take three generations to repay. 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 23 Patroller of the Living World 阳间巡逻人 Stories of spirit babies have circulated in the countryside of Sichuan and Chongqing for generations. When a baby dies, its lingering resentment can turn it into a ghost. Spirit babies were most common during the height of the one-child policy. As a child, I fed crows, which left me with an unusually strong aura of yin. Spirit babies often mistook me for one of their own, so someone later raised a ghost to protect me. On top of that, I have to work for the Underworld Bureau just to stay alive. 506Reads7.3Score—Shelves
- 24 The Temple That Eats People 吃人的庙 The Man-Eating Temple 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 25 Compendium of Evil Things 邪物宝鉴 There are no ghosts in this world. Every strange occurrence is the work of evil things. Evil things are exactly what the name suggests: wicked objects with uncanny powers. Dolls, dresses, pillows... Any of them can be affected by resentment and turn into something evil. There are many such objects among the people, and most strange events are actually caused by them. Don't be afraid. If you are upright and optimistic, evil things will keep their distance. It is only when you are crooked or pessi 194Reads6.7Score—Shelves
- 26 After My Face Was Stolen, I Drew the Six Realms of Living Beings 我的脸被夺走后我画出六道众生相 My face was stolen. It wasn’t disfigured. It wasn’t disguised. My face was literally gone. To stay alive, I had no choice but to paint one new face after another onto my own. Human, ghost, demon, beast, god, immortal. Every face I painted gave me a new ability. As I tried to reclaim my original face, I gradually discovered that this world was far more complicated than it seemed. 96Reads—Score126Shelves
- 27 There’s Someone on My Back 我的背上有个人 I always thought I'd slept wrong. I tried medicated plasters and got X-rays, until I met an old man who said, "Young lady, someone has been riding on your back for nearly half a year. You need to send her on her way, right now..." —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 28 I Heard of Strange Things That Year: Never Read This Late at Night 那年听闻怪事，千万别深夜翻看 These stories are adapted and fictionalized from various experiences shared by friends. They are written in an accessible style and make for a good way to unwind. A reminder: reject superstition. This is all imaginative fiction. Any similarities to real events are purely coincidental, so don't take it seriously! 12Reads—Score—Shelves
- 29 Twin Cities Detective: The Genius Inspector Steals the Show 双城推理：天才探长飒爆了 [Alternate modern setting] A cool, mature female detective and her puppyish young male partner: sweet and spicy, solving cases while falling in love Detective Tang's conviction is that she will find the person who killed her mother. Detective Du's dream is to become as capable as Sister Tang. As time goes by, amid dangerous cases, the two gradually come to share a goal: solve crimes, and find time for romance too. “Cuckoo, Cuckoo, report in! Get to the crime scene immediately!” Detective Tang ca 26Reads8.9Score—Shelves
- 30 One Hundred Thousand and One Folk Horror Stories 十万零一个民间恐怖故事 A collection of short horror stories in an episodic format, with a new story every chapter. No dragging things out! Haunted houses in the countryside, mountain spirits, urban legends, old customs and taboos... Every kind of Chinese-style horror is covered, with nonstop thrills and no filler. Anti-superstition disclaimer: This story is entirely fictional. Believe in science and read rationally. Please don’t apply it to real life~ 304Reads—Score101Shelves
- 31 The Eerie Amusement Park 渗人乐园 A mysterious game, terrifying trials, and a journey between reality and the game that brings you face-to-face with the truth of the world. Confront strange phenomena, break down the boundaries between good and evil, and experience the two sides of human nature. Is Eden Park truly a paradise for humanity, or a breeding ground for darkness...? Welcome to the Creepy Park. 24Reads7.3Score—Shelves
- 32 Terrifying Tales 惊魂诡事 Deep, silent alleyways, eerie, terrifying deserted villages, reed marshes choked with weeds... Every scene holds some of my most unforgettable memories! Everything that happens in this book is something I saw or heard myself. You can also read it as a story. Curious about the supernatural tales that have taken place in rural villages and mountain hamlets? Have you ever heard of or seen something that made your hair stand on end? If you find yourself sleepless in the dead of night, put on your he 314Reads6.5Score—Shelves
- 33 The Southeast Asian Medium 东南亚通灵先生 Under duress, I embedded a woman's corpse inside a Buddha statue in a temple. After I was framed, Master Dad taught me Southeast Asian spirit-medium arts. From that day on, the world I saw was no longer inhabited by the living alone... 3.6kReads8.4Score427Shelves
- 34 The Eerie Realm: It Starts with an Elevator 诡界：从电梯开始 [No System]+ [No Heroine]+ [Dungeon Progression]+ [No Saintly Protagonist]+ [Eerie]+ [Original Dungeons] Have you ever wondered? Beneath the neon lights and atmosphere of this city, things lurk that defy all reason. They were chosen by the Eerie [Elevator] and marked by a terrifying curse. Again and again, they must take part in death games, until death claims them. 57Reads—Score—Shelves
- 35 A Horror Story Lives Next Door 你的隔壁住着恐怖故事 Have you ever noticed how horror lurks everywhere in your everyday life? Listen. Listen closely... Where does horror come from? Nothing is scarier than reality. The unknown parts of our real lives, and the anxieties and desires we feel about them, are the greatest sources of horror. 12.3kReads9.4Score2kShelves
- 36 You Were Told to Guard a Village, So Why Did You Make the City God Cry? 让你守个村儿，你把城隍打哭了？ After the old madman died, I always thought I was the only person left in the village. Then one year, two men showed up carrying a camera and said they wanted to film a documentary about walking marriages... 469Reads8.5Score—Shelves
- 37 Notes of a Female Forensic Examiner: Cracking the Code 女法医手记之破译密码 Forensic pathologists have a strange and mysterious profession. They spend their days and nights with the dead, listening to the voices of the departed, speaking for the dead and clearing their names. A play, a terrifying case from long ago, a series of recurring bloody murders... Why does the killer leave a distinctive “death signature” on every victim, and what does it mean? Several dismembered bodies are discovered one after another aboard a train. As the investigation unfolds, a woman of the —Reads8.5Score—Shelves
- 38 Notes of a Female Forensic Pathologist: Testimony 女法医手记之证词 —Reads8.4Score—Shelves
- 39 Don't Look Back During Evening Study at School 学校晚自习别回头 Don’t Look Back During Evening Study at School 6Reads—Score—Shelves
- 40 Quick Transmigration: I Keep Wrecking the Plot in Fairy Tales 快穿：我在童话故事里疯狂崩坏剧情 [Transmigrate into a Book + Sweet Romance + Fairy Tales + System] Su Yu is bewildered after accidentally transmigrating into a collection of fairy tales. A lovesick mermaid, a naive princess, a toxic prince, and a ruthless System: it's practically sending her to her death! Su Yu just wants to stay alive. The System's tasks are mandatory? No problem! She can always find a bug to exploit. A clear-headed lovesick romantic, a saintly woman who fights her way to success, no more naive princesses: the 169Reads6.1Score—Shelves
- 41 Global Revival: Schools Awaken to Strange Spirits and a Hundred Ghosts 全球复苏：全民学校觉醒诡异百鬼 [Transmigration] [Eerie] [Xuanhuan] [Supernatural] [Horror] [Spiritual Qi Revival] [Supernatural Revival] [Instances] [Wild Imagination] [Supernatural High Martial Arts] [System Golden Finger] [Army of Ten Thousand Ghosts] [Contract Spirit Awakening] [School Opening] [Fight Monsters and Level Up] [Ghost King Contract] [Space Gate Adventures] Also known as: My Imperial Seal of Fengdu Awakened from the Start, and I Command Ten Thousand Ghosts; Transmigrated to a Contract Spirit World, Summoned a S 39Reads—Score—Shelves
- 42 Haunted University: I’m the Only Living Person on Campus 诡大学：全校就我一个活人 [Supernatural + one female lead] He scored 320 on the college entrance exam and just wanted to find a decent university to attend. He never expected to meet a ghostly version of Zhang Xuefeng, who recommended a ghost university 😭 His classmates and teachers are all ghosts 👻 —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 43 The Strange Realm: From the Start, I Dismembered the Monstrous 怪域诡界，我开局分尸诡异 [A handsome male lead, just like the readers] [Horror-leaning; do not read if you scare easily] [Mystery and the supernatural] [A story where despair and hope intertwine and ebb and flow] [Similar to Taming the Supernatural] It was an ordinary night, but it led Lu Ying into a new world woven from madness and death. This world has lost its light, and people like Lu Ying need a constant supply of “candles” to stay alive. But “candles” can only be found in the realms of those unkillable, rule-bound 8Reads—Score—Shelves
- 44 My Funeral Clothing Shop Only Takes Orders from Ghosts 我开的寿衣店，只接鬼订单 The day Zhang Zaizai took over the funeral clothing shop his grandfather left behind, he discovered it wasn’t an ordinary funeral business at all. The ledger was an order system for the underworld, the paperweight was a soul-pinning nail that kept vicious ghosts at bay, and even the “New Order” alerts from the delivery app came from “Mr. Li in Bed 3 of the morgue.” “Ding! Order accepted. Task: Deliver a peachwood comb to the Midnight Hair-Combing Ghost. Rule: Do not meet her eyes while combing h —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 45 Rules of the Rest Stop on a Stormy Night 暴雨夜服务区规则怪谈 Rules of the Rest Stop on a Stormy Night 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 46 The Weird Realm II: Room 414 Hospital 诡界II：414医院 [Infinite Flow + Supernatural Horror + Mystery + Paranormal + Survival + Dungeons] A hospital said to be impossible to escape, and a group of survivors who've narrowly escaped death time and again. What bizarre and uncanny tales await them as they open the doors to one patient room after another? Dear readers, follow the protagonist Lu Bai as he uncovers one hidden truth after another. Welcome to Hospital 414... 65Reads8.0Score—Shelves
- 47 Survived Eighteen Times: The Third Real Horror Movie 活过十八次：第三度真实恐怖电影 (Starring in Real Horror Movies) + (Infinite-Flow Supernatural Instances) If you happen to scroll through videos, Weibo, or Tieba and come across an invitation to the Third Degree Horror Movie, you will find yourself thrown into a horror movie, playing one of its characters. As the plot unfolds, bizarre, spine-chilling curses and eerie ghosts lurking everywhere will descend one by one. A village shrouded in a blood spring, a strange building, thirteen flights of stairs, a dark corridor, a silent 3.3kReads—Score398Shelves
- 48 My Neighbor Knocks on the Wall at 3 A.M. Every Day 我的邻居每天准时在凌晨3点敲墙 My neighbor knocks on the wall at exactly 3 a.m. every day 7Reads—Score—Shelves
- 49 The Dark Age: I Have Thirteen Personalities 黑暗纪元之我有十三重人格 [Dark Tone] [Infinite Flow] [No Saintly Heroine] Yi Tian was a bona fide madman, with thirteen personalities living inside him. Each was a top talent in their respective field. A shrewd, clear-headed detective, a psychologist who loved deception, a cool and dangerous assassin, a magician skilled in the occult… And… a mad artist in pursuit of perfection! Now, behemoths have descended! The apocalypse has returned! Terror is closing in! Hypocrisy? Of all things in this world, how many are truly wha 86Reads8.6Score—Shelves
- 50 My Sister Went on a Trip to Nanyang and Disappeared! 我妹妹去南洋旅游，就失踪了！ My Younger Sister Went on a Trip to Nanyang and Disappeared! 25Reads—Score—Shelves
