Novels like The Midnight Chef
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Midnight Chef, best match first.
- 51 I Scared a Ghost to Death Again 我又把鬼吓死了 [No romance + Chinese-style horror + folk beliefs and the occult + first-person narration + ghost-catching prodigy] My great-grandfather, Zhang Tiansheng, was a taboo subject in the Zhang family. He had once been a highly respected exorcist throughout the surrounding villages, able to speak with ghosts and spirits and dispel evil influences. Then, for reasons no one knew, he suddenly went mad. Before he died, he even tried to kill his entire family. After my great-grandfather died, his body was 568Reads9.1Score—14d adds
- 52 Folk Horror Taboos 民间恐怖禁忌 Do you know the stories old people tell? Do you know there are many things in folk tradition that people say must not be spoken of? Do you know what the elders say about dreams? The elders say there are things you mustn't talk about at night. Did you know that? 121Reads6.3Score—14d adds
- 53 The Night-Sealed Door 夜封门 Seven months pregnant, the woman was brutally hounded to death, and her seven-month-old baby was thrown into a well. Her wronged soul is cut off from the road ahead, and evil spirits come to claim their due. The gates of hell swing open, and the underworld seals its doors in the dead of night. 2kReads8.3Score15914d adds
- 54 The Soul-Summoning Lantern 招魂灯 The Soul-Summoning Lantern 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 55 The Yellow Weasel Asked Me to Grant It a Title, So I Wore the Old Immortal as a Scarf 黄狼讨封，我把老仙当围脖系上了 [Traditional supernatural] + [No System] + [Drunkard] + [Comedy] “Kid, do I look like a human or a god to you?” “Uh... well... you look like a fur scarf to me! Hand it over!” “Yow!” A drunkard who read only half a web novel before daring to open a spirit altar; A weasel who cultivated powers by blindly practicing on its own and loves to brag; A wild fox that trains hard to attain enlightenment, but has to sneak down the mountain every so often to steal a chicken and whet its appetite; And a 1.6kReads8.7Score12814d adds
- 56 The Demon in the Coffin 至棺重妖 The new novel, The Fragrance of the Living Dead: Handling Ghostly Affairs Among the Living, is now being serialized. The excitement never stops, with new chapters every day. If you enjoy it, please support the author, Ye Wei. Thank you all! [Mystery + Horror + Supernatural + Folk Tales of the Strange + Female Ghosts + Monsters + Mountain Spirits + Corpses] This is a strange little village hidden deep in the mountains... Ever since he was nine and encountered the dead rabbit crouched on his windo 1.6kReads9.2Score11214d adds
- 57 Whispers by the Candlelit Ruins 幽庭烛烬语 In the dead of night, countless eerie secrets lurk in the dark folds of the city. The knocking in an old apartment, known as “Knocking at Midnight,” rings out like clockwork at three in the morning. When a woman living alone peers through the peephole, all she sees is a roiling cloud of scarlet blood mist in the hallway, while a damp scratching comes from the doorknob. In the basement of a century-old apothecary, “Whispers in the Medicine Crock” never cease, day or night. Every night at midnight 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 58 Night Talks at the Threshing Ground 打谷场夜话 Long ago, in the countryside, there were no phones, televisions, air conditioners, or fans. When darkness fell in summer, people would head to the threshing ground to cool off, sit in a circle, chat, and start telling strange and terrifying ghost stories… 1.9kReads—Score12214d adds
- 59 My Pale Life 我苍白的一生 My name is Zhang Yuan, though my childhood nickname was Ergou. I'm male, born in 1990. Everyone encounters all kinds of strange, inexplicable things in life. By the way, do you believe in ghosts? 491Reads8.4Score10114d adds
- 60 My Years in the Funeral Business 我干殡葬的那些年 People light candles, ghosts blow out the lamps. The dead return at midnight, corpses rise in funeral halls, and ancient relics lie buried for thousands of years. In my years working in the funeral business, I’ve encountered plenty of strange and uncanny things. The living walk the roads of the living world, and the dead walk the roads of the underworld. But sometimes, not everyone on the underworld’s roads is a ghost, and not everyone on the living world’s roads is human… 50.4kReads9.2Score5k14d adds
- 61 The Cursed Girl with a Doomed Fate 诡命煞女 Ever since I was little, I was a child my mother hated. Born with an overwhelming concentration of the Seven Sha, I made every demon and monster flee at the sight of me. It wasn’t until I was twelve that I learned the truth: my birth had been part of a massive conspiracy... 10.1kReads9.2Score1k14d adds
- 62 12:17 A.M., Please Confirm Your Name 零点十七分，请确认你的姓名 In Qiheng City, people don’t simply disappear. First, the city erases their names, then convinces everyone they never existed. At 12:17 a.m., a fire alarm suddenly went off in a residential building in Qiheng City that had only sixteen floors: “Someone is trapped on the seventeenth floor.” Zhou Jiming, an engineer who inspected fire safety systems, checked the building plans, stairwell height, elevator programming, and exterior facade. Every piece of evidence proved that the seventeenth floor di 17Reads—Score17014d adds
- 63 A Debt-Ridden Wage Slave Inherits a Mansion, but the Tenants Aren’t Human 负债牛马继承豪宅，但租客不是人 Chen Mo, a wage slave on the brink of being crushed by loan sharks, receives a mysterious phone call just as he’s losing hope. To his surprise, he inherits a mansion worth 30 million from a distant relative. He moves in overjoyed, only to discover that one of the tenants isn’t even human. The more he learns, the more shocked he becomes. It turns out a huge conspiracy is lurking behind it all... 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 64 The Haunted Houses I’ve Experienced 我经历的凶宅 The older generation often says that people who die violent deaths cannot enter the cycle of reincarnation. Their souls endlessly haunt the places where they died, seeking substitutes. Only then can they be reborn. That’s why we often hear in the news about car crashes that keep happening at certain locations. Sometimes the place isn’t even a proper intersection, yet terrible accidents leave cars wrecked and people dead. Some streams aren’t even as deep as a person is tall, yet every year there 2.1kReads8.9Score19914d adds
- 65 The Yin and Yang of the Mist 迷雾阴阳 The Municipal Public Security Bureau's Special Cases Investigation Division, or Special Investigations Division for short, specializes in supernatural incidents that defy rational explanation. Shen Yanzhi, an officer in the division who is calm, rational, and skilled in talismans and spells, meets Lin Mo, a descendant of a family of yin-yang masters whose bloodline can suppress evil forces and whose gentle nature conceals a stubborn streak, while investigating a case. Together, they gradually un 29Reads—Score—14d adds
- 66 The Republic-Era Book of Mysteries 民国诡秘录 Sometimes, the one who takes your life isn’t a person at all, but an evil spirit or demon. And the one controlling those spirits from behind the scenes might well be human... In the chaotic Republican era, foreign powers encircled the nation, eager to invade China, while warlords fought among themselves at home, leaving the land in ruins. On the other side of the jianghu, evil spirits rose everywhere and ghosts ran rampant, while mysterious foreign religions invaded as well. After waking from a 773Reads—Score10514d adds
- 67 Stealing a Corpse to Borrow a Life 偷尸借命 The year I was born, strange signs appeared in the sky. That day, many people saw hundreds of ragged prisoners in shackles carrying a huge black coffin toward the forbidden ground behind the mountain. Ten years later, a fortune-telling monk came to our village. He said I had been dead for ten years, and that I was borrowing my life from a corpse. He said I wouldn't live much longer. But before I could die, he suddenly dropped dead. The next day, however, his body, already buried, mysteriously ap 6.6kReads7.8Score78214d adds
- 68 Horror Taboo: Returning the Soul Beneath the Coffin 恐怖禁忌，压棺回魂 The dead open their eyes, ghosts come to claim souls, the living borrow lifespans, and the dead press down on their coffins... One bizarre, uncanny experience after another keeps resurfacing in my mind like a nightmare. The strange tales in this book are mainly based on Yang Jian’s firsthand experiences... A warning: the actions in this book are for entertainment only. Do not imitate them! There are three kinds of people who read this book: thrill-seekers who aren’t easily scared... those who pu 973Reads6.2Score10114d adds
- 69 Insomniacs' Forbidden Tales: 444 Midnight Ghost Stories 失眠者禁忌：444个午夜鬼谈 A horror anthology with a bonus at the end of every story. I have 444 folk ghost stories guaranteed to keep you awake until midnight, terrify you, make you break out in a cold sweat, and pull the covers over your head! At the end of every chapter, the “Author’s Note” will include an illustration or bonus! But before you open it, brace yourself. The author accepts no responsibility for what happens next! [Supernatural Horror] [Folk Horror] [Rural Ghost Stories] [True Cases] [Urban Oddities] [L 4.2kReads—Score36914d adds
- 70 The Life of a Spirit Medium’s Disciple 出马弟子的人生 A novel about real experiences and nothing but facts, centered on the real practice of spirit-mediumship! I hope you enjoy it! No fantasy power trips or immortal cultivation: every bit of it is based on real experiences! 259Reads8.1Score—14d adds
- 71 Notes of a Taoist Priest in the World of the Living 阳间道士笔记 A recent college graduate ends up working odd jobs at Fuyuantang after an accident. He becomes an apprentice, learns the craft, kills ghosts, and subdues demons. From the locust tree spirit in Xiangcheng to the Mountain Goddess of Jinling, from evil Taoist cultivators in western Hunan to master Gu-raisers in Miaojiang, the Taoist sects under heaven are in turmoil. Watch Li Yang take up his sword and roam the world! 7.5kReads8.3Score69814d adds
- 72 The Ghost King Is Sealed Inside Me, Yet I’m a Good-for-Nothing 体内封印鬼王，我却是个废柴 A rainy night in a cemetery, a man-eating black cat, a man searching for his late daughter, a school guard hanged on the stairs, a wedding coffin sealed with red paper, a grotesque face hiding in a mirror... What secrets lie behind it all? What other mysterious events will Wang Shier, the gravekeeper, have to face? As terror and dread slowly close in, those secrets seem to be steering his fate. (The stories in this book are all adapted from real events. If anything sounds familiar, it is pure co 7Reads6.4Score—14d adds
- 73 I Just Want to Be a Slacker, but They Keep Making Me Play Horror Games 我只想当咸鱼，偏偏要我玩惊悚 All I Want Is to Be a Couch Potato, but They Keep Making Me Play Horror Games 35Reads—Score—14d adds
- 74 The Village of Terrifying Women 恐怖女人村 The women were so beautiful they were a feast for the eyes, yet they would not even let the men touch their hands. At first, I thought it was a feudal custom. As it turned out, it was part of a terrifying conspiracy. In this dark chapter of history, human nature erupted and was snuffed out again and again, without end. 422Reads8.5Score10814d adds
- 75 I Am Not a Paper Spirit 我不是纸仙 A paper effigy is made by folding paper into the shape of a person, so it can take on another's sins, endure their punishment, and bear the consequences of their karma. I was an orphan from a young age, adopted by my master. He was a paper effigy maker, and when I was nineteen, I learned his craft. That set me on a road of no return and turned me into a jinx. Before long, I brought about my master's death. Through one mistake, I turned a “Lovers' Fold” into a “Life-Damaging Fold,” creating a pap 50Reads7.6Score—14d adds
- 76 House for Rent: Haunted 凶宅出租 Firsthand experiences and true cases from a real estate agent, adapted supernatural incidents from haunted houses. Each chapter is a standalone paranormal story, uncovering the secrets behind haunted houses and the tangled struggles of human nature. 471Reads8.2Score—14d adds
- 77 The Mountain Wanderer 走山人 Three years after I died, I climbed out of my grave. I set out on the path of a spirit medium and made my name roaming the mountains. Grandpa said I was half-dead, with no taboos to hold me back! 2.2kReads8.7Score19514d adds
- 78 The Cursed Coffin 阴棺抬煞 Deep in Bai Street stands a yin-yang coffin shop that never makes coffins and never receives customers. Chen Ye grew up accompanying his grandfather on spirit-walking rites and coffin-bearing, learning all manner of evil spirits. He thought he would spend his life in the peaceful funeral trade, taking payment to guide souls onward and living in safety. Then, in a single night, three coffins arrived at the Ding family’s home, and one bizarre incident after another erupted throughout the househol 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 79 Young Feng Shui Master 少年风水师 There are many things in this world that you and I have never encountered. Just because we've never encountered them doesn't mean they don't exist. Legends are often more than mere legends. And traditions must have an unknown reason for becoming traditions. 632Reads9.0Score11414d adds
- 80 Crown of Frost and Ash 霜与烬之冠 At her engagement ceremony, the man she loved pushed her into an abyss. Three years later, she returned wearing a silver-frost mask. This time, she would crown his empire with her own hands, then stain that crown red with his blood. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 81 Horrifying Hauntings: Ghost Stories 恐怖灵异诡：鬼故事 Do you really think stories are just stories? In fact, behind every story lies a real event! In this book, I wrote a story about the last bus on Route 24. To experience what it would really feel like, I set myself a goal: for seven days straight, I'd ride the last Route 24 bus from its starting point to its final stop, then ride it all the way back. And that's where the story begins...! 361Reads—Score—14d adds
- 82 Breaking Hell: The Celestial Master Returns 破狱：天师归来 After ten years in prison, the day he gets out, he discovers he’s completely out of step with the world. There are no bustling streets or lights in every window. The streets lie abandoned, the cities are dead, and the air reeks of rot and blood. Monsters that are neither human nor ghost roam everywhere: stiff bodies, fangs and claws, and a thirst for blood. The military can’t defeat them, the police can’t hold them back, and human civilization is on the brink of collapse. Even more absurdly, peo 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 83 The Ghost Way, Midway Through Life 半路鬼道 Smart male lead + one heroine On the night of the Ghost Festival, the living send off the dead, burn incense, make offerings, and burn joss paper. But that night, I heard a ghost calling for a soul… The gong sounds, the night grows dark, and the road to the Yellow Springs is hard to travel… With talismans to guide the way and the departed to show the path, summon the gods and command the ghosts: only then can one master the Ghost Path between Yin and Yang! 6.6kReads8.9Score48614d adds
- 84 Coffin Shop No. 44 44号棺材铺 Everyone knows what a coffin shop is, but would you dare enter one where someone has died? Ever since I took over a coffin shop, strange things have been happening all around me. Only then did I realize that the people who come to buy coffins aren't necessarily alive… 2.2kReads8.0Score25314d adds
- 85 Major Crimes Unit Three: The Borrowed Corpse 重案三组之借尸还魂 Three bizarre murder cases, each victim wearing a strange smile. Through deep psychological profiling, forensic pathologist Song Ci discovers that each victim’s final actions imitated a tiny habitual gesture their long-deceased relative used to make. Bai Ye’s technical analysis confirms that traces of brain waves that could not belong to the living, already “formatted,” remain at the crime scenes... 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 86 Spine-Chilling Mysteries: This Beautiful Female Celestial Master Plays by Her Own Rules 惊悚诡事，这个女天师人美路子野 My name is Zhao Jiayi. I was born in 1996. Because my life force was weak, ghosts haunted me from childhood, and everyone in the village thought I was an idiot. They poured dirty water on me, called me a jinx, and swore I wouldn’t live past eighteen. But I believe in gods and ghosts. The one thing I don’t believe in is fate. To stay alive, I became a disciple of a spiritual master. I fought to change my fate, with talismans in one hand and a peachwood sword in the other. From then on Vengef 13.9kReads9.1Score1.8k14d adds
- 87 When the Funeral Dance Begins, the Living Must Flee 丧舞起，活人避 The Red Luan chapter of The Book of a Thousand Autumns, also known as Red Luan Ferry [Folk Professions + Southern Yunnan Mysticism + Paranormal Folklore + Strange Tales] I was supposed to die when I was six, but I joined a sect to prolong my life. A folk sect in southern Yunnan: warding off evil spirits and guiding the dead. There are countless rules and taboos in our line of work. “When the funeral dance begins, the living must stay away.” When the funeral dance is performed, the living must tu 200Reads—Score—14d adds
- 88 Painting Yin and Yang with a Single Stroke 一笔绘阴阳 As I gazed down the shadowy corridor and across the empty hall, the strange order of light and darkness stirred a fear of the unknown deep inside me. The elders always said, “The ancestral hall is home to spirits that have yet to depart.” “Don’t step on the threshold, don’t touch the ancestral tablets, and don’t whistle in the ancestral hall.” “The names on the tablets weren’t carved there. They moved in.” When the wind blew past the row of wooden windows, the latticework let out a mournful wail 209Reads—Score10114d adds
- 89 Tales of Strange Creatures in a Northeastern Mountain Village 东北山村野怪谈 Deep in the mountains of the Northeast, evil lurks in the old forests, and strange things abound in deserted villages. The elders say, “Every mountain has a mountain god, every forest a forest spirit. You can’t fight them, and you can’t escape them.” One eerie Northeast folk tale after another, one terrifying night in the mountain villages after another. It all begins with a heavy snowfall. 2.5kReads—Score10714d adds
- 90 The Bride of the Vengeful Ghost 猛鬼新娘 When I was sixteen, I rescued a woman who had been tricked into coming to our village, simply because I wanted to help. I never imagined that my actions would not only get the poor woman killed, but also lead to the deaths of more than a hundred villagers. And so my strange life began. 5.5kReads9.0Score38814d adds
- 91 The Empty Grave 空坟 Don't mess with the mirror in the house! After my favorite mirror disappeared, I began to fear the light. The doctor said I was allergic to sunlight, and I thought I was just sick. Until one day... I saw... my own grave! 1.1kReads9.0Score10714d adds
- 92 You Won’t Find This During the Day: One Ghost Story Every Day 白天刷不到：每天一个诡故事 I’m a horror writer who publishes online. I have no fame and no income, so I can only grab people’s attention by writing the most sinister, unsettling, and realistic stories. To make them feel “real,” I’m used to grounding my characters in details from the real world: real streets, real neighborhoods, real outfits, and real little gestures. I always thought a novel was just a novel. That is, until the serial killer I wrote stepped out of my story and found me in the real world. 971Reads—Score—14d adds
- 93 A Collection of Folk Feng Shui Records 民间风水集录 Also known as The Dragon-Seeking Secret: The Five Masters of Jingmen. Main characters: Tao Duoyu and Ren Shiyu; The Five Masters of Zhongzhou: Xiong Lei of the Northeast, Zheng Xuan of western Hunan, and Su Mei of Jiangnan; My name is Tao Duoyu. My master is Tao the Blind, the foremost of the Five Masters of Zhongzhou. Twenty-four years ago, he saved me when I was at death’s door, snatching fate from the heavens to extend my life by more than twenty years. Twenty-four years later, my master myst 2.5kReads9.1Score38914d adds
- 94 Eerie Revival: I Can Observe the Future 诡异复苏：我能观测未来 [Supernatural resurgence + observing supernatural traits + extracting ability traits + upgrading traits + observing the future + observing other people's past] [Seventh day of the supernatural resurgence] [Big-Headed Ghost Infant: The size of a baby, its entire body bluish-purple. It moves by crawling, but can scuttle up walls as fast as a gecko. It attacks by stabbing with its tongue. What triggers it to start following someone is still unknown!] [High-Heel Footsteps: Footsteps that always soun 4.2kReads8.7Score47714d adds
- 95 Paranormal Tales from the Northeast Countryside 东北农村灵异小故事 Spooky Little Stories from the Northeastern Countryside 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 96 Out of Control 失控者 [Anthology stories + supernatural horror + folk customs + feng shui and mysticism + subtle scares + jaw-dropping twists] Open a paper box sealed away for many years, and one terrifying incident after another begins to surface. The massacre that wiped out an entire family in Nanhua Estate, and the deaths of everyone connected to the case! A bride in a red qipao appearing by your side in the dead of night! Strange legends circulate through a dilapidated high-rise, where hands reach out of the dark 35Reads—Score—14d adds
- 97 When Grandpa Died, Dragons Lifted His Coffin and Ghosts Wept at His Grave 爷爷死时，龙抬棺，鬼哭坟 My grandfather was tragically caught up in a thousand-year-old feng shui plot. When he died, a dragon lifted his coffin and ghosts wailed at his grave. As for me, I was born wrapped in snake scales. They all called me a monster, but the Five Immortals willingly became my babysitters. They secretly sent me to Dragon Pool, where eight old men took me on as their disciple. When I grew up, I punched demons and monsters and kicked spirits and fiends aside. Practicing both Buddhist and Daoist arts, I 10.6kReads8.5Score80514d adds
- 98 Incense Ashes: I'm a Yin-Yang Medium 香灰：我是阴阳女先生 If someone asks to borrow money from you in a dream, promise me you won’t lend it. Because what you’re lending isn’t money, it’s your life. … Grandma called me a debt-collecting demon, and Mom called me a bringer of bad luck. All because, when I was born, a fire broke out at home for no apparent reason, and the villagers rushed over to help put it out. But no matter what they did, they couldn’t extinguish the flames. The fire only slowly died down after half the village had burned to the ground. 6.9kReads9.1Score82514d adds
- 99 The Ghost Marshal’s Yin-Yang Inn 鬼差之阴阳馆 By day, she transforms into a human; by night, she helps ghosts cross over. Come visit this unassuming little shop, run by a newly hired underworld makeup artist, and make an inquiry. 802Reads9.1Score10514d adds
- 100 Folk Tales: One Chapter, One Horror Story 民间怪谈一章一个恐怖故事 [Anthology of stories] [Folklore horror] [Supernatural horror] [Village legends] [Chinese-style horror] [Old-time storytelling] There is no overarching plot. Each chapter is a standalone horror story adapted from folk tales, with eerie, unsettling plots that grow more terrifying the more you think about them. Note: This story discourages superstition and encourages belief in science. It is entirely fictional, so just enjoy it as a bit of fun. 25.6kReads7.5Score1.1k14d adds
