Iji

The tone of the story: wet, sticky, slowly eroding fear. Combining the clan culture and folk beliefs of the "Shenshui Village" in the coastal villages of southern Fujian with the Cthulhu-style "ancient existence", it creates a suffocating feeling of "blood is a curse". Core imagery: Well: It is not a water well, but the "eye of the sea" - a salty well that is said to lead directly to Guixu. The water in the well rises and falls with the tide. Family mark: The clan members have light cyan birthmarks behind their ears, which are shaped like scales and are called "sea marks". Sacrifice: not a living person, but "memory". One person in each generation must voluntarily go down the well and dedicate his life's memory to the things in the well. Mutation: Those who refuse the ritual will "return to their ancestors" - the skin will become scaly, the bones will be deformed, and eventually they will lose their human form and become an extension of the existence in the well.