Inspecting the Haunted Ruins

Beneath an old coastal city lies an ancient ruin-vein, sealed away for a thousand years.

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, each successive dynasty established an ancient shrine to guard the ruin-vein. Rituals of offering were used to balance the earth's energy and keep the region safe. Then came the Republic of China era: the shrine was destroyed, the rituals ceased, and the barrier that had endured for a thousand years shattered. An invisible ruin-aura began seeping slowly through the earth's veins.

Late one night, Lin Yu, a folklore research blogger, started a livestream on the old street. At midnight on Ghost Festival, he strayed into an abandoned ancient shrine and encountered one eerie phenomenon after another: shadowy apparitions, candles that lit by themselves, and a looping illusion within a ruin-domain. He barely escaped by following the ritual steps recorded in an ancient text. Only when he watched the footage again did he notice the many sinister traces invisible to the naked eye.

As he traced the origins of the mystery, one unsolved bizarre case after another came to light: unexplained disappearances, inexplicable depression, and sudden deaths among young adults. Every incident site happened to line up along the route of an ancient earth vein.

An ancient text warns: