Novels like The River Imp Claims a Life: The Scapegoat in the 1998 Flood
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The River Imp Claims a Life: The Scapegoat in the 1998 Flood, best match first.
- 51 The Midnight General Store 午夜杂货铺 “Welcome to the Underworld General Store. Here, you’ll find merchandise unlike anything else, along with extraordinary service…” I run a midnight general store and work as a professional spirit walker, moving between the worlds of yin and yang. In the pitch-black night, I deal in things that must never be spoken of. Then one day, a strange customer dressed head to toe in red came in, and that was when the real horror began… 7.4kReads8.4Score57414d adds
- 52 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
- 53 The Fragrance of Corpses for Ten Miles 十里尸香 Most people receive gifts that are heartwarming or romantic. Even if they aren't a surprise, they're at least well-intentioned. But the gift I received when I turned twenty was a very real shock, and a curse. 1.9kReads8.2Score16514d adds
- 54 The Heart-Stealing Sleuth 夺心狂探 Urban superpowers! This is actually a superpower story with a touch of suspense, so please don’t approach it as a traditional suspense or supernatural mystery. Gao Yao, the founder of criminal law, left behind eight volumes for suppressing evil. Among them, an ancient mind-control technique can seize people's souls and manipulate their minds. Its modern inheritor is Chou Yun, the orphan of a murderer. Though Chou Yun was born in darkness and raised amid hardship, he has a strong and righteous he 1.7kReads9.0Score17314d adds
- 55 Thriller: There's a Ghost in My Phone 惊悚：我的手机里有鬼 A month ago, my younger sister vanished under mysterious circumstances at a subway station. A day ago, the police pulled a headless woman's body from the river. DNA testing confirmed it was my sister, Xu Yuan. A minute ago, my dead sister walked in carrying a head-shaped cake. A white ghost candle was stuck into the top of the skull, and she had made longevity noodles from her own entrails to celebrate my birthday. A minute later, I was chosen by a supernatural app's blood pact and plunged into 3.1kReads—Score42714d adds
- 56 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
- 57 The Skinning Ghost 扒皮鬼 (Traditional supernatural horror + extreme horror + multiple twists + mystery + entirely handcrafted) Lately, I've been having nightmares every night. A fortune-teller said I might have a ghost clinging to me. He told me about a forbidden folk ritual: Put on a pair of worn underwear over your head, and it will block a ghost's sight. That night, I got home and followed his advice, half believing it. My girlfriend came back to the room after washing up and stared blankly at where I was. "Where... 64.2kReads8.3Score7k14d adds
- 58 Making a Wish to a Ghost 向鬼许愿 A school where everyone has vanished. A company that serves ghosts. A city crawling with vengeful spirits. A mountain of weeping where yin and yang are turned upside down. … In an age when paranormal phenomena run rampant, Gu Shan possesses a terrifying wish-granting machine that can crush any supernatural incident. But each wish also carves an even deeper despair. “After you make your tenth wish, we’ll meet again in a world without pain.” (The original title of this book was The Tenth Wish.) 4.9kReads7.9Score46814d adds
- 59 Ghosts in Pieces 散装见鬼 Do you believe there are ghosts in this world? I think that question is as impossible to answer as whether there are dragons in this world. The answer you hear most often is: Believe in them, and they exist. Don’t believe in them, and they don’t. But if you ask me, my answer is simple: Yes! Not because I believe, but because I can see them. Of course, I wasn’t able to see them from birth. It all goes back to the strange experience I had when I was six... 23Reads—Score—14d adds
- 60 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
- 61 Nine Dragons Hauling a Coffin 九龙拉棺 The day my grandfather died, all living things on Mount Kunlun paid their respects. Dark clouds churned as nine dragons pulled an emerald divine coffin down from the heavens... People said: When an immortal passes into meditation, heavenly thunder welcomes them back to their place in the celestial court; When nine dragons pull a coffin, a divine coffin buries an immortal's body. 4.7kReads7.9Score42314d adds
- 62 I Asked You to Write a Horror Play, So Why Did You Have to Add a Deity? 让你写诡剧，您非要往里加神人？ He Mo has always believed that eerie plays, with their dark, disturbing themes and wall-to-wall negativity, are bound to drive actors to a mental breakdown if they perform in them for too long. So he insists on adding a few absurd characters and comic plotlines to lighten things up. The more the theater objects, the more it proves he's doing the right thing. It shows that he's exposed the theater's intention to torment its actors through eerie plays. The more the actors object, the more it prove 1.1kReads—Score17014d adds
- 63 The Day I Left My Master, I Banged My Head and Killed My Entire Family 出师当天，我一头磕死满院亲人 A yellow weasel weeps at a grave, a dead woman gives birth. A sinister, uncanny world of curse magic unfolds... 2.4kReads8.9Score32014d adds
- 64 I Came from the Yellow Springs 我来自黄泉 At the border between yin and yang, at the mouth of the Yellow Springs, the living guard the Thirteen Ghost Gates. The prison governor, the jailers, and the Brocade-Robed Marquis; at the post station for the dead, a mountain dog keeps watch. The door gods, the water nymph, the Confucius Temple; red lanterns and white funeral banners circle the streets. This ghost ballad, missing one line, conceals a world-shaking secret. I was a child my grandfather stole from the Yellow Springs, so before I was 16.4kReads9.0Score1.8k14d adds
- 65 I Asked You to Read the Feng Shui, Not Dig Up Their Ancestral Grave! 让你看风水，你刨人家祖坟？ Also known as "The Folk Feng Shui Secrets". [Supernatural + Feng Shui Master + Unmatched Skills + No System + No Saintly Hero] An old man dies full of resentment and is buried in a dangerously inauspicious ancestral grave. Disasters strike one after another on the day of the burial. Wang Nan, a yin-yang master, spots the problem and immediately tells the descendants to dig up the ancestral grave and choose a new feng shui site for a deep burial, only to discover that this was all part of a plot 313Reads8.9Score10014d adds
- 66 The Demon Taoist Breaks Through the Underworld Pass 妖道破阴关 (Supernatural horror, feng shui and geomancy, warding off evil and misfortune, one heroine) My parents used forbidden magic to conceive me, but on the day I was born, my strange appearance frightened them away... My third uncle raised me in a cage. I barely managed to grow up on borrowed yin virtue and incense offerings... On my eighteenth birthday, I was buried alive in the ancestral graveyard. She saved me... but she wasn’t human... 5.4kReads9.1Score47014d adds
- 67 The Midnight Spirit Shop 深夜灵店 I'm neither a yin-yang master nor an exorcist, but I do have an unusual left eye. I run a shop that opens only at midnight, serving customers who have run into special troubles. A little shop, a cup of tea for a guest, and so my story begins... 1.7kReads8.6Score19414d adds
- 68 Nationwide School Survival: Every School Has Become Hell 全民学校求生：所有学校沦为地狱 [School Survival] [Apocalypse] [Light Ensemble Cast] [No Brain-Dead Decisions] [No Saintly Heroine] [Semi-Infinite Worlds] [S-Rank Invisibility and Intangibility Talent] [Many] Universities today are drowning in red tape. Gu Pingsheng was only trying to help his academic advisor get Teacher Huang from Administration to stamp a document, but Teacher Huang stalled him with one excuse after another and even mocked him. Then, during evening study hall, every school around the world entered a biza 208.2kReads8.2Score22.6k14d adds
- 69 Opening the Road to the Underworld 开冥路 [No romance, no female lead, not much of a power fantasy, first-person narration, a slightly slow start. If you don't mind, please be patient. My new book, "Nine Divinations Out of Ten Are Wrong", is the second installment of this story.] My name is Sui Xiaotian. I'm a guide. But I only guide those who die unnatural deaths. An unnatural death is a bitter consequence brought about by bad karma. After death, the great temples won't accept you, and the small temples won't keep you. You become a lon 13.5kReads9.0Score1.3k14d adds
- 70 The Ghost Physiognomist in Hemp Robes 麻衣鬼相 Some say it's difficult to understand another person, but to a face reader, understanding someone is easy. Others say you can't judge a person by appearances. I think it depends on who's doing the judging. My grandfather was a famous face reader of ghosts. He could read disaster and fortune, life and death, heaven and earth, and even uncover a person's past lives and future incarnations. When I was little, egged on by a group of friends, I kicked over the mound of an old grave. Luckily, my grand 1.4kReads8.5Score18014d adds
- 71 Hush! It's Here 嘘！它来了 Stray cats appear on campus, awakening a curse of murder sealed away for fifty years. Long ago, cats protected the school by killing rats, but when their numbers grew too large, they were burned alive. Their resentment coalesced into a nine-lived shadow cat. It uses humans to wreak havoc, draining the vitality of the living in a blood sacrifice to avenge its burning. Strange incidents, gruesome deaths, vengeful spirits demanding lives night after night: the only way to survive is to destroy all 189Reads—Score—14d adds
- 72 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
- 73 Back to 2008: This World Is All Wrong 重回2008：这个世界不对劲 The day he is laid off at thirty-five, Lin Ye is hit by a car and sent back to June 6, 2008, the night before the college entrance exams. He gains access to the “Future Sight” System, which can predict the next thirty years: the toughest exam questions, the four trillion yuan stimulus, Yanjiao housing prices. The future is in his hands. But he gradually realizes that this world isn't quite like the 2008 he remembers. On a rooftop in the dead of night stands a figure in a long robe. In the sunlig 14Reads—Score—14d adds
- 74 Belly City 腹城 [Thriller, Cthulhu Mythos, mystery, supernatural powers, System, loops, horror, apocalypse, unraveling secrets, no romance] The rating has just been posted, but it will rise later. In the flawless “Sweet Community,” every fear and suspicion Nuxin feels is gently “corrected” by the System. Until he discovers that his playmate A Dai’s “move” was an elaborate lie; until, beneath the old school building in the dead of night, he meets Mo Li, the girl who warns him to “run.” Black cars glide soundl 16Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 75 A Valiant Woman in Troubled Times: One Lone Blade to Avenge a Sea of Blood 乱世烈女：孤刀报尽血海仇 A Fierce Woman in Troubled Times: One Lone Blade to Avenge a Blood Feud 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 76 I Moved into Dorm 404 and Uncovered a Deadly Campus Mystery 住进404宿舍，我看破校园凶局 Feng shui, the supernatural, campus life, society: everything you're looking for is here! A story is just a story. Even if someone has experienced something similar in real life, I hope you'll still treat this as just a story! Don't get too caught up in it! Finally, may you, dear reader, stay safe and well! 33Reads—Score10414d adds
- 77 Tales of the Purple Robe 紫衫异闻录 “I taught you martial arts. I didn’t teach you how to be decent people.” [Unconventional strong female lead + urban fantasy + martial arts + supernatural + technology + suspense + romance + political intrigue + a richly detailed world] “The essence of traditional Chinese martial arts is being unable to hear a dog bark.” “Does acting cool not cost you anything?” “I’m grateful you thought so highly of my disciples that you injured them. If I didn’t give you a beating in return, I’d look like I had 444Reads—Score3714d adds
- 78 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
- 79 Please Don’t Be Afraid 请不要害怕 [Subverting Tropes + Infinite Flow + No Female Lead + Mild Horror] “Captain Wang, I clearly buried her, but… but I saw her in the backyard again!” “How did she die?” “It had nothing to do with me. She… she killed herself!” “She… she just didn’t want to be cremated…” “Then… what is that thing in the backyard?” “I… I don’t know.” “Can she see us? Can she hear our voices?” “And is she dangerous?” … “As for ghosts, I have only one piece of advice for everyone…” “If you happen to run into one, pleas 31.9kReads8.5Score1.5k14d adds
- 80 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
- 81 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! 6.8kReads8.9Score49114d adds
- 82 Eerie Revival: I Tamed the Nightmare Ghost 诡异复苏：我驾驭了噩梦鬼 [Eerie Revival]+ [Nightmare Ghosts]+ [No Female Lead]+ [Slow Pace] Three laws govern the ghosts. First, ghosts cannot be killed. Second, every ghost has a pattern to its killings. Find the pattern, and even an ordinary person can survive. Third, only ghosts can fight ghosts! The [Nightmare Ghost] makes people drowsy, trapping them forever in a domain of black mist. The [Fifth Person] taps shoulders in a four-corner game played in both directions. The life-threatening [Night Watchman Ghost] clan 11kReads8.3Score92914d adds
- 83 Dark Web 暗网 How terrifying is the dark web? You may have brushed against its edges without even realizing it... Have you heard of the dark web? Hackers call it the other side of the internet. Every day, things that seem impossible to ordinary people happen there. A young woman goes missing for seven days. By the time we rescue her, she can hardly be called human. Then she tells me something so outrageous it makes my blood boil. She stumbled onto the dark web and was sold by human traffickers. She saw what s 8.3kReads8.1Score1.1k14d adds
- 84 Welcome Back to the Nightmare's Beginning 欢迎回到噩梦起点 (Infinite survival, puzzle-solving, mild horror) Late at night, Shao Jie stumbled sleepily toward the bathroom. The instant he opened the door, the whole world spun upside down! When he came to, he found himself in a gloomy, terrifying otherworld. There, he was forced to take part in a horrifying survival game: eerie footsteps sounded outside the door during the midnight room inspections, villagers mysteriously vanished from a remote village every night, and worst of all... the woman who had onc 15.8kReads7.7Score1.7k14d adds
- 85 Horror Resurges: I Have a Ghost Bus 恐怖复苏，我有一辆鬼大巴 “My name is Jiang Yan. If you don’t want to die, get in my car.” On the way back to his village for a holiday, Jiang Yan successfully took control of a ghost bus and became a ghost-handler. What secrets lie hidden in the eerie village? What terror is sealed inside the pitch-black coffin? In a torrential downpour, ghosts roam the amusement park. Is this the beginning of everything, or the end? As a blood mist invades and the entire city is sealed off, despair closes in. Face death and fight t 6.6kReads7.5Score51714d adds
- 86 The Tang Banner in the Far Reaches 绝域唐旗 The Tang Banner in the Forbidden Lands 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 87 Infinite Haunting Realms: I Can See Through Lies 无限诡域：我能堪破谎言 [Infinite Flow]+ [No Romance]+ [Original Instances]+ [Mild Horror]+ [Ghosts Kill People]+ [Ghosts in Every Real-World Instance] “Ghosts cannot be killed.” “Humans cannot fight ghosts.” “Ghosts each have their own rules for killing.” A mysterious letter. A door that leads to the unknown. When Li Yu opened the door, one eerie instance after another awaited him. This is the [Ghostly Domain], a world of vengeful ghosts! Will you die in confusion, or be reborn from a nightmare? 155.8kReads8.4Score24.9k14d adds
- 88 Dragon-Suppressing Coffin 镇龙棺 The day Grandpa died, all the beasts paid their respects, and nine dragons carried his coffin... 2.5kReads8.9Score46314d adds
- 89 The Underworld Bureau of the Yellow Springs 黄泉阴司 When I was a kid, I went to the back hill of the village to play and pick up human bones. There I stumbled upon a ghost opera and nearly lost my life. Luckily, a green snake saved me, but the snake also began a strange, shadowy romance. Ghost operas, spirit summoning, yellow-skin spirits' yin graves, peachwood seals against evil: the bizarre folk customs of southern Guizhou and chilling, uncanny tales of the worlds of yin and yang are coming your way. Warning: Not for the faint of heart!!! 5.8kReads8.4Score58214d adds
- 90 I Didn't Kill My Best Friend, But He Did Die Because of Me 我没动手杀挚友，但他确实因我凉透了 I didn't kill my best friend, but he did end up dead because of me. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 91 Ghost Messenger, Don't Run 鬼差你别跑 The sequel to "The Underworld Calls Me Little Mister", picking up perfectly from the final chapter of the first book. Hilarious ghost-hunting power fantasy! Every member of the main cast is an overpowered carry, and they won’t put up with even the slightest injustice! An invincible protagonist, with payback served the very same day! Packed with all kinds of superstitious trivia from Taoist classics, along with knowledge from the other Hundred Schools of Thought. 18.9kReads9.3Score2.1k14d adds
- 92 Hongwu's Wrath: A Lowly Clerk Defies Heaven, Three Hundred Households Lose Their Heads 洪武怒：小吏抗天，三百户枭首 Hongwu's Fury: A Petty Official Defies Heaven, Three Hundred Households Beheaded —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 93 A Fox's Claw Marks Appeared on the Bride's Back on Our Wedding Night 新婚夜，新娘背上现出狐伤 On their wedding night, a fox-shaped wound appears on the bride's back. 19Reads—Score—14d adds
- 94 I Followed a Beauty into a Cave, and Ten Years Later I Became a Monster 追美女进山洞，十年后我成了妖怪 I followed a beauty into a mountain cave. Ten years later, I became a monster. 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 95 Six Years in the Cold Palace: I Nurtured an Emperor for the Ages with My Life 冷宫六年，我以命养出千古明君 Six Years in the Cold Palace, I Nurtured an Eternal Wise Ruler with My Life 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 96 The Longqing Murders: A Scholar's Wrongful Conviction, and I Set His Spirit Wife Straight 隆庆奇案：秀才冤狱，我判灵妻归正 The Longqing Mystery: A Scholar's Wrongful Imprisonment, I Rule That His Spirit Wife Be Set Right —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 97 Clear Words Hidden in Reed Leaves, Carried on the Wind for Twenty Years 芦叶藏清词，风吹二十年 Pure Words Hidden in Reed Leaves, Carried by the Wind for Twenty Years 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 98 Ink and Tang Style: The Biography of Xue Tao 笺染唐风：薛涛传 Ink on Silk, Tang-Era Style: The Story of Xue Tao 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 99 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! 1.1kReads9.0Score10614d adds
- 100 A Carefree Fairy Descends to Earth and Takes the Internet Giants by Storm 逍遥仙女下凡，卷爆互联网大厂 A carefree fairy descends to earth and takes the internet giants by storm 4Reads—Score—14d adds
