Novels like The Nightmare Staircase
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Nightmare Staircase, best match first.
- 101 Rule Horror: All My Teammates Are Crazy 规则怪谈：我的队友全是神经病 [The main CP is a male-male couple] [Romance] [Supernatural horror] [Social satire] [Mystery and deduction] [CPs include both men and women] The God-Sealing Game has descended on this planet for the second time. No one knows who will succeed in becoming a god this time and become a legend for future generations. The mysterious Andrew Card seems like a divine gift, yet something about it feels sinister. Zzzzt A sudden burst of static swept through everyone's minds. [Humanity's God-Sealing Plan in 63Reads—Score—14d adds
- 102 One Cursed Letter, and I'm in the Eighteenth Layer of the Ghost Realm? 一封诅咒信，我入诡界十八层？ [Horror + Survival + Infinite Flow + Plot-Heavy + Three Updates a Day + No Fighting Monsters to Level Up + Original Horror Instances] They say that when a white letter mysteriously arrives in your hands, a curse has attached itself to you… Rotting books, an empty bus, a door seeping blood… In bizarre ways, a group of unsuspecting people who receive letters are sent to one eerie world after another. They are called Curse-Bearers, and in the eldritch realm, they must endure their own curses. No 1.3kReads6.4Score10814d adds
- 103 The Calamity of Gui Water 癸水之祸 If even your memories are fake, who are you? Lin Zhou receives a death invitation from his younger sister, Lin Yao, who died twenty years ago. To uncover the truth, he enters the "Constellation Instances": twenty-eight prisons holding beings more ancient than the corruption itself. Each instance demands that he trade memories for power, and every dead person bears the cost on his behalf. When he finds his own file in the archives, stating that he cleared the Ghost Golden Sheep instance at age —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 104 Supernatural Horror: Someone Behind the Wall Is Calling My Name 惊悚灵异：墙里有人叫我的名字 Horror and the Supernatural: Someone in the Wall Is Calling My Name 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 105 No Hints in the Instance 副本无提示 [The rating just came in, and it will rise later] [Mild horror + varied horror styles + original scenarios + fresh, unconventional scenarios + intelligent characters + no female lead or romantic subplots] Have any of you watching heard of the elevator ghost game? They say that if you follow the instructions, you can reach another world. Chen Feng is a video creator whose content is playing all kinds of horror games found online. He occasionally livestreams, too. During a livestream of the elevat 76.8kReads7.8Score12.5k14d adds
- 106 Infinite Replays in the Trial Run: Now Clear It in One Life 试玩无限重开，接下来请一命通关 (The rating just came out, so it'll rise later!) [Infinite Flow + Mild Horror + No Romance + No Cheats + Not a Feel-Good Story + Smart Characters] One night, the police station received a phone call. A man named Chen Mo turned himself in. He had murdered all four members of his family, and even killed the family dog. During repeated interrogations, Chen Mo remained completely calm. “Officer, I'll say it again.” “I didn't kill people. I killed... a bunch of ghosts.” After dying and rewinding ti 296Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 107 Hell Station 地狱车站 [Horror Infinite-Loop + Hell Apartment Style + Supernatural + Deduction + Bizarre + No Couple + No Female Lead + Ensemble Cast] There is a Hell Station in this world. They say every train departing from it leads to Hell, and the only way to truly leave is to complete mission after mission. Ye Luo, who suffers from a mental illness, stumbles into it by accident. “Welcome to Hell Station.” “Who am I? I’m just a servant of Hell.” First Train: Jigsaw [Completed] Second Train: Plague [Completed] 14Reads—Score—14d adds
- 108 True Accounts of Eerie Dreams: A Big Shot's Practical Guide to Faking It 诡梦实录：假装大佬实战教学 [No Romance + Infinite Flow + Forced Rank Skipping] Undergoing a major rewrite. The ending of the first dungeon is being written now, and the whole dungeon will be posted at once when it's finished. Currently rewritten up to Chapter 15. New blurb: Before Mo Bugui dies, the System asks her if she is willing to cooperate and play the role of a high-level player. She is still hesitating when the monsters outside draw closer. Desperate to survive and pay for her mother's medical bills, Mo Bugui grit —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 109 Ghost Stories by Night 鬼话夜谈 The story follows Chen Xingchen and Jiang Chuyan, who grew up together in a village. They hear tales of the supernatural from the village elders and experience a number of eerie events themselves. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 110 Rule Horror: Every Rule Is Waiting for Me to Break It 规则怪谈：所有规则都在等我违规 Rule Horror: Every Rule Is Waiting for Me to Break It 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 111 I'm a Living Detective, So Why Are You Making Me Solve Ghost Cases? 我一活人侦探，你让我破鬼案 The comic adaptation of this work, "I’m a Living Detective, So Why Make Me Solve Ghost Cases?", is now available. [Infinite flow + no System + no golden finger + horror and suspense] While investigating an urban-legend case, detective Lin Sanshi encounters the same eerie phenomenon as the victim. From then on, he must wander through a series of different mission worlds: A mountain-top guesthouse where people are murdered in a snowstorm A perilous corpse-driving journey A survival game controlled 4.8kReads7.1Score41514d adds
- 112 Eerie Descent: Nobody on the Subway Is Human 诡异降临：地铁里都不是人 [!!! NOT A POWER FANTASY !!!] [No golden finger + No Romance + No Leveling Up + No Items + No System] [Infinite Flow + Mystery and Horror + Every Character Is Smart] Important warning: If you are riding the subway right now, be sure to check underneath your seat and make sure there isn’t a corpse lying there! A mysterious subway train, with eighteen stops along its route. At every stop, the passengers must face a bizarre instance! A cruise ship sailing alone across the sea, with nowhere to dock 3.8kReads7.3Score66514d adds
- 113 After Sacrificing Our Teammates, We All Became Gods 献祭队友后，我们全员成神 A driverless Route 13 bus carries seven losers cast aside by reality into the Myriad Worlds. An unemployed planner, a teacher on the verge of a breakdown, a spineless doctor, a cowardly programmer, a boastful salesman, a taciturn stunt double, and a laid-off machinist. This is the worst starting team in history. But every “sacrifice” triggers a wild evolution. 🔹 Vehicle upgrade path: Rusty old bus → Mobile luxury apartment → Matte black-and-gold war chariot, the Xihe (with a red-gold Golden Crow 473Reads6.5Score10614d adds
- 114 Infinite Nightmares: An Eighty-Year-Old Man Rejuvenated from the Start 无限噩梦：开局八旬老汉返老还童 Infinite flow + rules-based horror + mild horror + no romance Qin Yi accidentally enters a nightmarish world. Here, there are rules that must never be broken, along with bizarre phenomena beyond ordinary people's understanding. By chance, Qin Yi discovers the rewards for surviving a nightmare. Wealth, health, youth, achievement… Terrified of the nightmares but coveting the rewards for surviving them, Qin Yi approaches one nightmare after another with mixed feelings… 8.4kReads8.1Score94914d adds
- 115 The Weird Domain: Escape from Skinless Village from the Start! 诡异领域：开局逃离无皮村！ [Infinite Flow + Mild Horror + Survival + Supernatural Instances + No Female Lead] Resentment that cannot be dispelled in the real world gathers to form new eerie domains. After being chosen, people are dragged into an eerie domain when they die unexpectedly. They can return to reality only by successfully completing the tasks inside. Only after escaping one terrifying eerie domain after another by the skin of his teeth does Lu Lin discover that the real world is also being infiltrated and taint 7.9kReads7.1Score56614d adds
- 116 Slaying Demons and Ghosts Since High School 斩妖灭鬼，从高中开始 [Traditional Supernatural Horror] + [School Life] + [Ensemble Cast] + [Coming of Age] + [Not Overpowered] + [Passionate] It all begins with a student jumping from a school building. Liu Tianyu had expected to spend his student years in peace, but from that day on, his life was never quiet again. Peril at a haunted temple, a school turned into a sacrificial altar, a ghost city beneath the water: one challenge after another awaits. Watch as a group of students turn the tables amid the schemes of g —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 117 Strange Survival: Drawing an NPC as My Cheat from the Start 诡异求生：开局抽个NPC当外挂 [Rules-Based Horror + Infinite Flow + Card Draws + Beautiful Female NPCs + Supernatural Survival] Supernatural horrors descend, dragging countless people into one eerie world after another to fight for survival. Jiang Jue is sitting in a classroom when a countdown suddenly appears before his eyes. [3, 2, 1] [Welcome to the Dance of Death.] When he opens his eyes again, he is standing in the middle of a lavish court ball. The duke’s daughter before him is dressed in elaborate finery, her beauty b 12Reads—Score—14d adds
- 118 Beyond the Constant 恒定之外 [Infinite-Rounds-esque] [Mystery] [Supernatural] [Wild Imagination] [Mystery and Wild Imagination] Beneath the Constant, all living beings are pieces on a chessboard. Fate, the script, the favor of destiny, or a predetermined outcome. What people call being reborn and turning your fortunes around is merely a plot the rules have permitted. Whether you lose or break the game, you have only gone from a cage in one script to a cage outside another. Welcome to Beyond the Constant. And I, too, am beyo —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 119 Horror Reincarnation: The Ultimate Adaptable Player 恐怖轮回之最强适配者 [Infinite Flow] [AI Brain] [Horror Game] [Rules-Based Horror] At three in the morning, after five straight hours of ranked losses, Lu Yuan was completely tilted. He was about to turn off his computer and go to bed. Suddenly, a blinding white light burst from the screen. An AI program appeared and selected him as a dungeon-compatible player. One eerie dungeon after another began to open. A motionless amusement park, a bizarre shared apartment, and the despairing, silent depths of a five-star dung 30Reads—Score—14d adds
- 120 Ghost Game 鬼游戏 [Infinite-Flow + Horror Mystery + Supernatural + Ensemble Cast + Mild Horror + Strong Female Lead + Plot-Driven] The human heart is more terrifying than the paranormal. Grievances fill the human world, summoning the Grudge God. GQ2026.12.28. After a rain of blood, the Ghost Game appeared out of nowhere and began invading the human 43Reads—Score—14d adds
- 121 Hell Manor 地狱庄园 [Horror and the Supernatural + Suspense and Mystery + Infinite Flow + No Female Lead] A group of strangers receive a blood letter and mysteriously find themselves inside a villa. Their only chance of survival is to uncover the ghost hiding among them. After Xu Yi completes the task by the skin of his teeth, he is relieved to have finally survived. But then he discovers that he has arrived at a place called Hell Manor. He must complete the tasks in eleven blood letters to leave the manor alive. A 10kReads8.0Score83614d adds
- 122 Ten Dreams Across the Calamity 十梦渡厄 (The Strange Knocking at the Door / Welcome Back to the Starting Point of the Nightmare, Book Two) Have you ever received a letter like that? Its material feels like human skin, its handwriting looks like blood. Once you open it... You find yourself standing before a door. Push it open, and you step into another world. A place with rules you must obey, nights when dawn never comes, and ghosts who have waited ten or a hundred years for release. Every door you make it through buys you one more day 4.1kReads7.1Score38714d adds
- 123 Rule Horror: The Last One to Leave the Classroom After Evening Study 规则怪谈：晚自习最后离开教室的人 Rule Horror: The Last Person to Leave the Classroom After Evening Study 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 124 The Corpse-Reading Detective 诡案读尸人 The Corpse-Reading Detective 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 125 Rule Horror: After Lights Out, Follow the Dormitory Rules 规则怪谈：熄灯后，请遵守宿舍守则 Rule Horror: After Lights Out, Please Follow the Dormitory Rules 52Reads—Score—14d adds
- 126 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! 11Reads—Score—14d adds
- 127 Infinite Horror Instances 无限惊悚副本 [Infinite Flow] [No Female Lead] [Mild Horror] [Not a Power Fantasy] [Not Invincible] Players tackle horror instances to gain power and wealth. No one who enters this place is kind. Each is the embodiment of one of the Ten Deadly Sins, with unfathomable darkness hidden in their hearts. But what awaits them at the end? What kind of ending could be worthy of all the turmoil and suffering they’ve endured along the way? I don’t know either. Perhaps the answer lies at the end of the book. 117Reads—Score—14d adds
- 128 The Endtime Haunted Town 终焉诡镇 [Infinite Flow] [Mystery Solving] [Mildly Frightening] [One Female Lead] A red letter, a rusty key, a town shrouded in mist… The people of the town called the place they lived the “Ghost Town.” There was an altar in the Ghost Town. Every so often, someone had to offer up their life and take part in a ritual. Otherwise, unimaginable things would happen in the town. When Xu Yuan arrived in this eerie town carrying a letter, there was no way out. He could only complete one terrifying ritual game af 26Reads7.0Score—14d adds
- 129 The Otherworldly Netherworld 异站冥途 A bus bound for reincarnation, visible only to those on the brink of death. Every stop beyond the platforms brings an unknown crisis. At the Netherworld bus stop, queue up and board; the living get off, the dead stay behind. To find his long-lost girlfriend, Zhao Jichuan unhesitatingly boarded the bus. In an ocean of blood and tears, in a world of pain and fear, betrayal was commonplace and screams were nothing unusual. Just as he was about to despair, he thought he saw a ray of light... 17Reads—Score—14d adds
- 130 Infinite Worlds: I Slaughter My Way Through Them 无限世界：我嘎嘎乱杀 No Male Characters + Infinite Flow + Horror + Lone Wolf + Strong Female Lead + No Insulting Language About Women + All Important Positive Supporting Characters Are Female Lu Zhao never imagined that she would drop dead after a victory banquet, much less that she would enter an infinite world after dying. The rookie guide looked at the newcomers entering the infinite world for the first time and told them that as long as they cleared instances and earned enough points, they would have a chance to 102Reads—Score—14d adds
- 131 Midnight Oracle 午夜神谕 Shh… It’s late. Turn out the lights. Once you step through this door, the world of lies behind you. Whatever you see there, don’t tell anyone. Don’t scream… Stay alive, and you’ll understand everything. As an “ordinary” residential community security guard, Chen You has endured one midnight after another: the church bells ring out twelve long echoes in succession; in an empty post office, the PA system switches on by itself and mutters ancient prophecies; an estate that sho 24Reads—Score—14d adds
- 132 Rule Horror: Don't Look Back During 72 Hours in the Dorm 规则怪谈：宿舍72小时不要回头 A word of warning: this is terrifying, so timid readers beware. (No female lead, no cheats, no romance, game instances, infinite flow, horror, mystery) Eight university students who returned to campus early found a mysterious sheet of rules in their empty dormitory building: Rule One: No matter what strange “person” you see, don’t cry out or scream. Rule Two: No matter who calls you from behind, don’t turn around or answer. Rule Three: One of you is an impostor who will eat people in the middle 4.5kReads6.0Score37414d adds
- 133 When Ghostly Calamities Strike: A Paranormal Escape Begins with a Séance 诡灾降临：灵异逃生从招魂开始 [Infinite Flow + No Female Lead + Original Instances] “Welcome to the Supernatural Forbidden Zone, dear Apostles!” “This world is nearing its end, so struggle as much as you like!” As paper ash blankets the world, reality and the supernatural begin to overlap. In a dilapidated clan apartment building, a drowned ghost child knocks at the door. In the vanished School Building No. 7, a headless corpse wanders in confusion. In a dim Taoist temple, gleaming statues of the gods weep tears of blood... 959Reads8.1Score8214d adds
- 134 A Bizarre Instance? She’s the Final Boss! 诡异副本？她才是最终boss！ [No CP + strong heroine + villainess + eerie instances + horror and suspense + infinite flow + beautiful and powerful (whether she suffers depends on the role she gives herself)] (The heroine really is strong, the invincible kind.) P.S. How can love between the eerie beings not count as a suspense romance? The heroine isn't an evil woman who does bad things for no reason. Everything she does is part of her own plan. (She isn't a good person, anyway.) A treasure is locked away in Qingshan Mental 104Reads—Score11214d adds
- 135 Even If We Kill Him, We Still Need One More 就算杀了他，我们还是少一个 The one who was missing was never a monster. Bai Xun is trapped in a bizarre office tower that stretches on without end, where every floor is a deadly trial. Security, cleaning, maintenance, reception, building management: jobs that once seemed ordinary have become survival superpowers, and an employee badge is a matter of life and death. Only after accidentally unlocking the base on the 43rd floor does he learn that he is the landlord of the entire building, with the power to rewrite its rule 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 136 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—Score39614d adds
- 137 You Think College Makes Life Easy? 上了大学就轻松了？ Infinite-loop horror + slow burn + no golden finger + challenges + rule-based horror + the supernatural + instances + conflict An ordinary school suddenly turns into a “meat grinder”! All kinds of deadly rules: ignore the “teachers,” don't run, follow the schedule to the letter... All kinds of bizarre instances, movie scenes, teamwork, and going it alone... Ten universities compete online. Staying alive is the only hope! When you graduate from your senior year of high school and take the college 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 138 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. 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 139 Fatal Game: The Death Script 致命游戏：死亡剧本 [Infinite-Flow + Horror + Survival] No female lead, no romance between men and women, pure deduction-based infinite flow. A strange minibus carries a group of guilty people to a village that doesn’t exist on any map. ...The people living in the base dormitories receive a different horror script every so often. Anyone who receives one is forcibly dragged into the script to play out its horrifying story. When Su Bai finally returns home after experiencing one terrifying incident after another, he 504Reads7.0Score—14d adds
- 140 The Haunted House: Day Sign 诡舍：日兆 [Writing practice] [The Strange House fanfiction + horror + infinite flow] One week after Ning Qiushui reached the ninth door, the Mist World underwent a cataclysmic transformation… “My name is Shen Zuiqing… I am… who?” 1.2kReads7.3Score10014d adds
- 141 Escape from the Apartment of Despair 逃离绝望公寓 [Infinite Flow]+ [Two Male Leads]+ [Escape Through Pure Intellect]+ [No Female Lead] Lu Chao is diagnosed with a terminal illness. As he waits to die, he suddenly discovers an apartment building. The apartment can cure his illness and keep him alive, but in exchange, he must carry out the specific tasks it assigns. And the targets of these tasks are… ghosts! They have no way to kill the ghosts. Their only chance of survival is to uncover the rules behind the ghosts’ killings. To stay alive, Lu C 356Reads—Score—14d adds
- 142 Rule Zero 第零规则 [Infinite Flow] [Rule Horror] [Cerebral mind games] [Identity reversals] [Ensemble cast] Shen Zhou wakes up on the subway with a note in his pocket. The handwriting is his own, and it bears five words: You forget every time. Then he’s dragged into a deadly game ruled by rules. The rules are cruel, meticulous, and seemingly flawless. Until he realizes that some of them feel strangely familiar. But he can’t remember anything. When the rules are finally revealed, everyone is searching for a way 2Reads—Score114d adds
- 143 Nightmare Files: Reincarnation 噩梦档案：轮回 [Infinite-flow + Mild horror + Original game scenarios + One heroine] When Chu Jie woke up, he found himself on a fog-shrouded mountain road. There was no one around. The only thing in sight was a battered bus with dim yellow lights, slowly approaching him. Once aboard, Chu Jie realized with a jolt that the passengers didn’t seem to be human... A dismembered woman, villagers wearing eerie smiles, a driver with only half a face... While Chu Jie was still trembling with fear, the strange rules wri 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 144 My Horror Theater 我的惊悚戏楼 Lost souls come as spectators, while the living become actors in the play! The curtain is about to rise, the guests are seated. Tonight, the stage is set, and the performance will be a matter of life and death! Whenever blood rain falls, a group of people abandoned by fate return to a bizarre theater. They cannot escape and can only take part in one deadly performance after another. Here, everyone has their own set of rules for the entire show. Here, the audience's tips determine their odds of s 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 145 I Entered a Horror Story 我进入了恐怖故事 When Shen Yu opens his eyes, a villa shrouded in darkness comes into view. This is where the game begins. When staying up late becomes forbidden, going to the bathroom alone brings misfortune, and your roommate turns into a monster, the unknown conditions for death have yet to be unlocked. What will you choose? 431Reads6.6Score10614d adds
- 146 Merging with an Olden System, Bringing the Uncanny to All Heavens 融合旧日系统，带着诡异降临诸天 (System-driven, no heroine, using strange and uncanny abilities to face Eastern xianxia, mortal wars, and battles between immortals.) An ancient temple awaits the one who can bear its power... Lin Yun, an unremarkable office worker in the 21st century, accidentally obtains a strange book that fully awakens. When he comes to again, he has embarked on a mad, absurd journey... Plague bacteria. A monstrous mouth growing grotesquely from the skin. The uncanny power to create life. Lin Yun: “You culti 20Reads6.2Score—14d adds
- 147 A Guide to Performing in Horror Films 恐怖片演绎指南 Infinite Flow + Supernatural A horror-film role-playing show has quietly become a hit. Anyone desperate to have a wish granted will receive an invitation. The Very Horror Show cordially invites anyone interested to take part in its horror-film performances. 20Reads—Score—14d adds
- 148 The Haunted Old Mansion 恐怖老宅 The living guard the yang, while ghosts hold the yin in check. Yin and yang are inseparable, and nothing is forbidden. In this world, everyone is either human or ghost, yin or yang. But there are people who walk between the two realms all year round, neither human nor ghost. They are the Yin-Yang House Guardians! 53Reads7.0Score—14d adds
- 149 Deadly Survival Game 致命生存游戏 (Infinite-loop game, suspense, mystery, survival, no supernatural elements, no urban legends, original games, no independent System, no golden finger) ‘Selecting a game...’ ‘Player level detected: L1. Available game difficulty range: 1–2 stars.’ ‘First game detected. A one-star game is guaranteed.’ ‘Game selection successful!’ A black screen with white text immediately appeared. [Game Name: The Devil Beside You] [Game Type: Multiplayer] [Difficulty: One Star] [Clear Condition: Find the disguised 1.2kReads7.8Score10214d adds
- 150 Someone New Appeared in the Footage 录像里多出一个人 The test shoot’s discarded footage was four seconds longer. Everyone in the frame held the same poses they had at the end of filming. No one moved. I counted three times. There were six people every time. But only five people had been there that day. On the hard drive my mother left behind, there was an empty folder with a four-character name: Do Not Fast-Forward. In the recycle bin was a deleted video, four minutes and twenty-five seconds long, which couldn’t be recovered. Our production crew w 3Reads—Score—14d adds
