Novels like Forbidden Strange Tales: The Taboos of the Folk
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Forbidden Strange Tales: The Taboos of the Folk, best match first.
- 151 Paper Bride 纸新娘 Rumor has it that I tried to seduce the Lin family's young master, failed, and then killed him in the village's paper-offering shop. To save my life, I agreed to marry Master Lin, who had raised me for ten years. On our wedding day, Master Lin laid his hands on me. "Darling, did you know I've wanted you for many years?" Of course I knew. I'd been looking forward to this day even longer than he had. 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 152 Crimson Wish 绯红之愿 I bought a cursed object, hoping to summon a ghost and make a pact with her so I could go to the Ghost City and find out what happened to my missing master. The summoning went unusually smoothly, but the moment she appeared, the powerful yin energy pouring out of the magic circle sent me flying several meters and knocked me to the ground. She stood quietly in the middle of the circle, dressed in a bright red bridal gown and phoenix crown, with her red veil neatly covering her head and her hands —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 153 Summer Vacation of Terror 暑假惊魂记 I can see things other people can't. I've never let it show. I didn't want anyone to think I was a freak. Until that summer vacation... Two classmates and I made plans to go swimming. I saw something in the water. I was terrified. But they insisted on going in, and I couldn't stop them... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 154 The Secret of Chaoxiao 朝校的秘密 In the village where my family lives, every household's first child has to be a girl. The day after their tenth birthday, these girls are sent to a place called Chaoxiao on the other side of the mountain. They say it's a paradise for girls. That is, until a black cat appeared in the village. 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 155 The Secret of Chongcao Village 虫草村的秘密 “The cordyceps we raise are so fast, you can’t even catch them.” I was watching this funny video on a certain short-video app. Comments flew across the screen. Some people said the joke was hilarious, while others earnestly explained that cordyceps couldn’t possibly run fast. But I knew the joke wasn’t funny at all, because I had seen fast-running cordyceps myself. Perhaps “rabbit cordyceps” would be a more fitting name. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 156 Huizhu Village 慧猪村 My college roommate claimed she came from an ancient village called Huizhu Village. She said the village got its name because, from ancient times to the present, it had produced many high-ranking officials and top scholars, as if its villagers were born with pearls of wisdom. It wasn’t until she talked the rest of us in the dorm into visiting her village around the Qingming Festival that I learned it was actually called “Wise Pig Village.” —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 157 Morgue Mysteries: Lord Huang Santai’s Manhunt Order 太平间异闻：黄三太爷的追凶令 No one believes that an immortal fox lives in the hospital morgue, much less that this immortal is the meddlesome “Third Master Huang.” But ever since I took over the bizarre case of a “corpse moving by itself,” I keep seeing a flash of yellow beside the autopsy table. I even caught the reflection of a weasel in the dead person's pupils. As a disciple who can communicate with the immortals, I know this case is part of Third Master Huang's scheme, and a hunt for the culprit that crosses the bound 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 158 The Doll Grows Cold 人偶失温 Everyone says I must have done something virtuous in a past life for Qin Chuan to choose me. Only I know that's not the case. He married me because he wanted me dead. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 159 The Vanishing Her: Who Is My Girlfriend, Really? 消失的她：我的女友究竟是谁 I'm a corporate wage slave. I've noticed my girlfriend has been acting strangely lately. She often dances in front of the mirror in the middle of the night and makes all sorts of eerie expressions. Worried about her, I started investigating her in secret. I discovered that she has a twin sister with dissociative identity disorder. The hospital staff said her sister went missing a month ago. My girlfriend seems to have changed completely around the same time. Just as I sat at my computer, feeling —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 160 Escape from Hell 逃出地狱 Because my cousin is weak-willed and a classic henpecked husband, my sister-in-law's family wanted to take my father's inheritance all for themselves. Just before my father was about to die of his illness, they actually kidnapped me and sold me into northern Myanmar, that living hell, without my cousin's knowledge! —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 161 Double Taboo 双重禁忌 When Dongzi was a child, there were many deadly taboos in the village. For example, a pregnant woman must never cross paths with a funeral procession. If she did, the dead person's soul would enter her body, turning her into a man-eating evil ghost. Another taboo was that anyone who lived past a hundred would become an evil ghost. Three days before an elder turned a hundred, people had to take them to the back mountain and leave them to fend for themselves. If they kept the elder at home, the ev 1Reads—Score114d adds
- 162 The One-Yuan Villa 一元别墅 Never believe that a windfall will fall from the sky. At 28, I was “hit” by a villa, but I don't have much time left. Now I have to find my next heir. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 163 The Death Camera 死亡相机 I don't like digital cameras. I like old-fashioned film cameras. After my grandfather's funeral, I inherited one of his belongings: an unused roll of film. My grandfather once said, "Don't touch the future, or you'll be caught up in an unknown disaster." I didn't understand what he meant then, not until a short while later, when I used that roll of film to photograph a murder. A murder that had yet to happen. 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 164 A Sheet of Human Skin 一张人皮 When beads of blood seeped from the claw marks on Li Jun's back, I recognized their shape: they were fingernail marks, exactly like the ones on the female corpse at the crematorium thirty years ago. Three days earlier, when he tremblingly handed me that faded pellet drum, the smiling faces of the boy and girl painted on its surface had suddenly split open, revealing locust-wood grain writhing beneath the skin. Now the lights above the emergency room flickered, and black blood was flowing through 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 165 Studying Neutrinos at the Funeral Home 我在殡仪馆研究中微子 ❎ Not for the faint of heart! Five-star horror rating. I’m a college student. To ease the burden on my family, I decided to find a part-time job near campus. By chance, I spotted a faded advertisement on a utility pole nearby. The job was keeping night watch at a funeral home, and the pay was great, so I took it. On my first day, the manager told me three bizarre rules for the funeral home’s night shift: I’d be the only one working overnight; never open the door for strangers; and never get invo 16.7kReads7.2Score2.4k14d adds
- 166 The Corpse Collector 接尸人 Do you know what happens to a corpse in a funeral home? Do you know that cremated remains aren't actually made by burning the body? And do you know why funeral home workers never stay long? I'm a corpse collector at a funeral home. Over the years, I've learned many secrets no one talks about, and handled all kinds of bodies: people who hanged themselves, people hacked to pieces, and people whose bodies were mangled after being hit by cars! But to me, they were nothing more than soulless shells, 1.1kReads7.3Score11614d adds
- 167 The Missing Body 丢失的身体 Two empty bottles of sleeping pills lay before the grave, and two kidneys lay before his son's grave. With a smile on his face, he leaned against his son's gravestone and slowly closed his eyes. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 168 Midnight Strangulation Marks on a Severed Hand 断手的午夜掐痕 That night on duty, my junior grabbed my sleeve, his voice trembling. “Senior, the patient who lost a hand in a drunk-driving accident half a year ago… he's dead.” A chill ran down the back of my neck as the memories came flooding back. Two accident victims had been brought to the hospital that day, and both had lost their right hands. Yet only one of them survived. Later, the survivor woke in the middle of the night with red marks where his own hand had choked him. His family sought help from e 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 169 My Best Friend Disappeared While Picking Up Takeout, and Everyone Says She Never Existed 闺蜜取个外卖就失踪，所有人都说她并不存在 My best friend went out to pick up a delivery and never came back. She vanished from my life completely. Nobody remembered her. They all thought I was mentally ill. The truth was, we had been split across two different timelines. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 170 The Corpse Stitcher’s Daughter 缝尸匠的女儿 My father, Liu Si, was the most famous corpse tailor in Laoshan Village. After the start of winter, the women of the village were torn to pieces by wild bears in the mountains, one after another. My father suggested finding their bodies and sewing them back together so they could be buried in peace. But rumors spread through the village: “The bears were lured here by the Liu family. They'll do anything to make money sewing up corpses.” The village chief forced my father up the mountain to kill t 16Reads—Score—14d adds
- 171 The Wronged Ghost in the Incinerator 焚化炉里的冤魂 On the surface, he was an official who upheld justice. Behind the scenes, he was the most brazen crime boss around! He was a cunning, utterly inhuman demon! He killed, robbed, and took lives, yet remained above the law! And all his audacity came from his powerful "protectors"! Before he was brought to justice, he did whatever he pleased, leaving countless people and families with memories of unbearable pain... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 172 The Jinx 丧门星 Li Datou married a girl from the city, which was quite the rare thing in the village back then. Lian was exceptionally beautiful. When she first married Li Datou, every man in the village, young or old, was green with envy. But in less than half a month, everyone in the Li household was dead. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 173 Death’s Pallbearers 死亡抬棺 There was a half-immortal in this little mountain village named Yu Shouwang. Just after dusk, someone came rushing to his house. “Uncle Shouwang, you have to come take a look. The village chief's father's coffin was just carried to the village entrance, and now nobody can move it. It's downright eerie!” Strangely enough, as soon as the half-immortal arrived, they were able to move the coffin. But at the time, only Old Yu Shouwang knew that this and the series of tragedies that followed were all 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 174 The Blood Sacrifice’s Curse 血牲的诅咒 In the Northeast, there's a taboo no one dares to break lightly: eat livestock that have become spirits, and you'll suffer retribution. But one year, during a famine, the harvest was good in that remote little village. Old Yang suddenly slaughtered the old ox he'd raised for fifteen years. On the very day the ox was killed, a crowd of strange, unfamiliar people came to the village, demanding meat night after night. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 175 The Rat King Underground 地下的鼠王 In Northeast China, there are things you must never ask about, places you must never go, and some graveyards that even rats won’t dare approach… Forty years ago, a plague of rats devoured an entire village. The bodies, gnawed down to bare bones, became a taboo the villagers never dared mention. But no one expected that forty years later, the nightmare would return: bloodstains, gold bracelets, overturned graves, and rafters creaking with “squeaks” in the night… Everything filled them with terror 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 176 The Spirit-Summoning Garment 招魂衣 They say Northeast China is full of taboos, and you can’t even wear the wrong clothes! Old Li was tempted by a bargain and accepted a new outfit that was “free.” But he never imagined it was a “life robe” sent by a soul-caller. The price was his grandson’s life. From that day on, strange things plagued the household: a dog’s head rolled across the floor, relatives died gruesome deaths, living people were burned alive, and even the dead began knocking at the door to claim their lives… —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 177 The Person You Want to Kill Will Die Within Three Days 你想杀死的人，将会在三天内死亡 Type a name on the screen, and three days later, that person will die. A bizarre “Thrilling Murder Mission” System suddenly appeared on the computer screen. Young, down-on-his-luck Lu Yunming entered the name of someone he hated, though he wasn’t sure he believed it… Three days later, that person really did die in a crowd, an arrow piercing his head as blood sprayed everywhere. Lu Yunming had thought it was a freak act of judgment, but it turned out to be only the beginning of a nightmare. The S 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 178 Strange Tales of Min Mountain 岷山异事 In the 1980s, businessman Mo Wenshan traveled to the Min Mountains to survey the market. By a twist of fate, he became entangled in a tomb-robbing case, setting off a series of strange and perilous ancient tomb expeditions. In the process, the secrets of the ancient Shu civilization, hidden for a thousand years, came to light… 199Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 179 The Strange Rural Tales My Aunt Told Me 姑姑给我讲的农村怪事 When I was little, I was timid, but I still loved listening to my aunt tell stories. Today, I'm sharing with you the stories she told me. I'll do my best to keep writing, and I hope you'll support me. 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 180 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. 11.6kReads9.4Score1.8k14d adds
- 181 The Rouge House 脂楼 The Rouge Tower —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 182 Hong Kong’s Yin Chronicles: The Domino Curse 香江陰錄：骨牌劫 Hong Kong Yin Chronicles: The Bone Tile Calamity —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 183 A Dead Man Fathers a Child 死人生子 Zhang Ni was the prettiest girl for miles around. Yet even though she was old enough to marry, not a single matchmaker came to ask for her hand. Some said she willingly sneaked off into the fields with the village chief's son. Others said the village chief followed right behind his son as soon as he went in. Smack! A slap landed on Zhang Ni's rosy cheek. "I've nearly settled the bride price, and now you're telling me you don't want to marry him?" Marry whom? This was going to be the death of the —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 184 Horror: Death Comes at Midnight 恐怖：夜半索命 I lived a routine life until the death of Old Chen changed everything. Beside his body lay a pile of handmade paper figures. One had been painted blood red and clutched in his stiff, dead hand. Blood-red words began appearing in the mirror: “Get out.” “He’s still in the building.” Then I received an ultimatum: his daughter needed a living substitute. Paper figures weren’t enough. Neither were his belongings. She wanted a living person in the building, someone warm and breathing. Tomorrow, at mid 17Reads—Score11014d adds
- 185 Deadly Delivery 致命快递 I received a package from an unfamiliar sender. A note inside said I could scan a code to claim a huge cash bonus. But when I scanned it, my phone opened a livestream instead. Even stranger, my face appeared right in the middle of the screen. The comments were flying by: "This girl looks pretty good. What a shame to kill her." "Tsk, tsk, what a beauty. I recommend having some fun with her before killing her." Just then, I suddenly heard someone knocking behind me. "Hello, delivery!" 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 186 The Corpse Stitcher 缝尸匠 My family makes its living dealing with the dead, and my father is a renowned corpse seamster in the surrounding area. His skills are superb. No matter how mangled a corpse is, he can restore it to look as good as new. Whenever someone died in an accident and their body was disfigured, wealthy families from hundreds of miles around would ask my father to stitch it back together. But as far as I knew, my father used to be a butcher. He was skilled at dressing pigs, but I had never heard that he w 11Reads—Score—14d adds
- 187 A Terrifying New Year’s Eve 惊悚除夕夜 A Chilling New Year's Eve 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 188 Killing My Second Personality 杀死第二人格 I killed my second personality. But before he died, he left me a “grand gift”... A list of people to harass at the asylum, with 16 names on it, even though the asylum has only 15 patients in total. “Did you think you were the only one with a second personality?” What is the truth? Who is the real madman? 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 189 Blood Ties 血缘关系 I rushed a thousand miles to mourn my mother, only to discover that she had died under suspicious circumstances. I wanted to uncover the truth and avenge her, but my whole family opposed me! It turned out everything was because there was a “vampire” in the family! 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 190 My Fiancée Disappeared, and I Became the Killer 未婚妻失踪，我成了凶手 My name is Cheng Yuan. My fiancée has disappeared. The last message I saw before I passed out was from her. “Cheng Yuan, run!” When I woke up, I found myself trapped in a perfect replica of my home, with something sinister lurking everywhere. And it seemed someone was watching me! A madman claimed to be deeply in love with my fiancée. But later, I discovered that the real madman was someone else. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 191 My Senior Disappeared from a Nursing Home, So I Went Undercover as a Nurse and Uncovered a Shocking Secret 学长在养老院失踪，我去当护士卧底发现惊天秘密 My senior disappeared three months ago. He was working at Paradise Nursing Home at the time. To find him, I applied for a job at the nursing home. I never expected to see an elderly resident jump to his death on my very first day. Then more residents started disappearing, one after another. Until one day, inside the refrigerator, I found the finger of a missing resident... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 192 Workplace Rule Horror: A Desperate Fight to Survive the Grind 职场规则怪谈：玩命打工求生 A job interview turns into a deadly game The printer devours people, the elevator plummets, the boss eats human flesh… Every workplace rule is a lethal trap! Double-sided printing can save your life; pressing the wrong elevator button can cost it. Remember the rules of the workplace, or you'll be the next zombie! Is this workplace bullying, or a death game? Welcome to workplace hell Please do your best to survive. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 193 The Old Man's Dead. Can I Inherit His Billions Now? 老头死了，我可以继承他的亿万家产了？ The old man is dead. Does that mean I can inherit his billions in assets? 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 194 Rental Notes 出租笔记 A city needs police officers, doctors, nurses, firefighters, sanitation workers, and many others to keep it safe and thriving. But that's only what you see on the surface. There are also people working behind the scenes for the city. They ask for no reward and care nothing for fame; they simply guard the city in silence. Some are injured, some are left disabled, and some die. Those who survive keep going. If it were up to you, would you sacrifice a few people to bring happiness to the majority? 1Reads8.1Score—14d adds
- 195 What Came Back from the Mountains When the Fog Rolled In 浓雾起时，从山里跟回来的东西 The Thing That Followed Me Back from the Mountains When the Fog Rose 1Reads—Score114d adds
- 196 I, a Pixiu, Have Been Demoted to Barbecue Pig Trainee 我，貔貅，被贬成烤猪预备役 I, a Pixiu, Was Demoted to Roast-Pig-in-Training —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 197 A Woman Fell from the Building at My Feet, Then Begged Me in the Middle of the Night to Avenge Her 坠楼女子落我脚边，半夜她哭着求我替她报仇 The Evil Spirit in the Talisman On a rainy night, I watched a girl jump from a tall building and die on the spot. Her soul latched onto me and demanded that I avenge her. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 198 The Child Who Never Existed 不存在的孩子 My son suddenly disappeared. Everyone told me that I had never had a child. The daycare teacher didn't know me. My husband said we'd never wanted a child, and even my best friend urged me to calm down, saying it was all just an hallucination. But I clearly remembered the child I'd risked my life to give birth to. His name was Liu Chaoyang, he was one year and eight months old, and he was a chubby little dumpling! Then I found baby supplies under the bed, along with photographs and traces that ha —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 199 After the Wicked Mother-in-Law Drove Her Son’s Family to Their Deaths, They All Became Ghosts 恶婆婆逼死儿媳妇一家后，全变鬼了 Back in our village, it was perfectly normal for a mother-in-law to bully her daughter-in-law. Even when the entire husband's family bullied the daughter-in-law, nobody thought there was anything wrong with it. But driving the daughter-in-law's entire family to their deaths? I doubt many people could do something like that. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 200 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
