"Suspense and thrill are his trademarks. His labyrinthine plots and soul-stirring prose ensnare readers effortlessly. Just as his dark, profound horrors push you toward the abyss, he pivots with youthful warmth, guiding you into fairytale-like new realms—where terror isn’t just bleakness and dread. He’s Lu Qi: a wildly popular '80s writer with extraordinary talent."
—Southern Metropolis Daily

"Lu Qi meticulously layers tension and clues, crafting heart-pounding atmospheres and relentless suspense. Bold imagination meets forensic science, criminology, and cryptography in airtight logic. Each twist feels inevitable, grounded in believable science behind the 'supernatural.'"
—The Literary Gazette

"A cascade of suspense, rigorous logic, and deepening layers pull readers into an abyss of intrigue. 'The Sin Eater' reveals humanity’s metamorphosis, uncovering life’s meaning and truth."
—Hong Niangzi, suspense author

"Hair — the body’s most malleable and mysterious part. You never know how many strands you have. This hair-centric suspense weaves unimaginable plots and characters, delivering endless mystique."
—Yuan Taiji, author of "Lu Ban’s Curse" and "The Assassin’s Scheme"

"Solid prose, fresh themes, and meticulously unraveled cases make this a suspense gem brimming with youthful vitality."
—Gang Xueyin, author of "Criminal Minds Files"

★Featured in interviews by "The Literary Gazette", "Southern Metropolis Daily", and more. Acclaimed by suspense masters Hong Niangzi, Yuan Taiji, and Gang Xueyin.
★True terror comes not from ghosts, but from humans!
★Bizarre incidents in a girls' dormitory, souls lost to razor blades — challenging conventional logic while exposing the "monster" lurking in every heart.
★A masterpiece by renowned suspense author Lu Qi, whose works topped China Mobile's suspense charts. Specializing in psychological horror, Lu Qi probes the most sensitive corners of the human psyche — this book is his pinnacle achievement.

At a university, pretty female students are mysteriously shaved bald — then murdered. Law student Yu Tong, a detective enthusiast, gets entangled. As he cracks each eerie case, he realizes his girlfriend Gu Mei is next…
A relentless battle of wits ensues against a shadowy adversary. Under police leadership, a decades-old life puzzle finally shatters.

Lu Qi, originally named Zhang Chi, male, born in 1981, is a member of the Chinese Writers Association and a contracted writer of the Heilongjiang Writers Association. Served as a prison police officer for 4 years. Mainly engaged in creating campus novels and suspense novels, he has published 14 novels including "Prison Guard Notes" and "Tin foil Skirts".

Prologue: The Missing ...................001
Chapter 1: The Bleeding Head ........007
Chapter 2: Ghostly Hair Loss ........016
Chapter 3: Hair Fluttering in the Wind ...020
Chapter 4: Midnight Scream ........025
Chapter 5: Two Bald Girls ...........028
Chapter 6: Spirits in the Rainy Night ...035
Chapter 7: Who Is the Real Killer? ...037
Chapter 8: Secrets of Long Town ...043
Chapter 9: Trapped in Flames ......050
Chapter 10: Inescapable Fate ......054
Chapter 11: Corpse in the Dark Room ...058
Chapter 12: Hunting the Phantom ...062
Chapter 13: Pale Hand from the Water ...074
Chapter 14: The Mysterious Symbol ...080
Chapter 15: Hunting Game ...........086
Chapter 16: Truth of the Player .....091
Chapter 17: Omen of Terror ........099
Chapter 18: Girl's Corpse Behind the Curtain ...105
Chapter 19: Fog ....................111
Chapter 20: Haunted School Auditorium ...121
Chapter 21: Father of the Missing Child ...126
Chapter 22: Her Resurrection Dedication ...133
Chapter 23: Devil's List ...........142
Chapter 24: Was She Sucked In? ...149
Chapter 25: The Strange Phone ....157
Chapter 26: Ghost-like Girl ........161
Chapter 27: He's Back Again ......166
Chapter 28: Person Behind the Mirror ...173
Chapter 29: Scar .................179
Chapter 30: The One Who Returned Wasn't Her ...186
Chapter 31: Underground Water Prison ...189
Chapter 32: The Cave ............198
Chapter 33: Eyes Full of Hatred ...203
Chapter 34: Deciphering .........209
Chapter 35: The Fall .............218
Chapter 36: 27 ..................223
Chapter 37: Retribution .........231
Chapter 38: Mark on the Chest ...232

Prologue: The Missing

Yu Tong's student ID was gone — vanished inexplicably, as if stolen on purpose.
He searched everywhere but found nothing.
He rarely used the ID, having only needed it twice during trips to Shenyang and Guangzhou over break. After that, it had stayed in his dorm. So how could it have disappeared without a trace?
Finally, he gave up, hoping the little booklet would resurface on its own someday.
Now, he sat in a barber's chair, staring blankly at the row of competing salons across the narrow street.
Why so many barbershops on such a small street? he wondered. How do they stay in business? Is it just because they're near campus, catering to students?
He avoided these places. Even though Jiang Ke once claimed the barbers here were skilled, Yu Tong remained loyal to a distant salon by the river. Maybe it was habit — two years of trusting the same barber, confident only those hands wouldn’t mess up.
People cling to what they know, building unshakable trust.
It’s like love. Once you care for someone, you want them by your side for everything.
Gu Mei loved Yu Tong this way. Every salon visit, she dragged him along — whether he was buried in library books or dead asleep in his dorm. Today was no exception.
Bored, he studied Gu Mei’s reflection. Playful and pretty, she smirked and winked at him mid-haircut, blatantly teasing. He remained stone-faced.
The shop held only three people: Yu Tong, Gu Mei, and the barber. Eerily quiet.
By 5 p.m., the sunset’s last crimson streaks vanished above the door.
The barber — a tall, thin man in his thirties — wore a greasy ponytail tied with something indistinct and dirty. Yu Tong disliked long-haired men but scrutinized this one, searching for some aesthetic justification.
He found none. The man’s oily black hair clashed with his sallow skin and patchy beard, creating a nauseating effect.
The barber spoke little. When Gu Mei commented on her hair, he merely nodded before snipping precisely where she pointed.
His mouth seemed useful only for drinking. A water bottle sat beside Gu Mei’s chair, and he sipped constantly, as if hydration sustained his very life.
The atmosphere grew stifling.
Then, a girl burst in, her stomps making the floorboards shriek.
Yu Tong, half-asleep with closed eyes, heard but didn’t see her—until she spoke, "Yu Tong, don’t pretend you don’t know me!"
His eyes snapped open to a pale hand thrust in his face, palm up—rude and demanding. Then he recognized her: Luo Yiran.
The foreign languages department beauty, his cram-school deskmate. A film fanatic who hoarded classic DVDs and pulled all-nighters watching them. Initially, he’d bragged about sitting beside her — until she started stealing movie tickets from his bag whenever he dozed in class.
Recently, her boyfriend’s family moved south, and he dumped her.
Heartbroken, Luo Yiran grew withdrawn. She stargazed on rooftops and drowned her sorrows in midnight screenings, now pestering Yu Tong for tickets. He’d avoided her, fearing solo late-night trips were unsafe — yet here she was.
Her hand remained outstretched. No ticket, no retreat.
When Yu Tong didn’t budge, she turned to Gu Mei. "Xiao Mei, help me out! I’ve been dying to see this American blockbuster for a month."
Gu Mei, who lived next door to Luo Yiran, was her friend. Softhearted, she fished a ticket from her jeans and handed it over.
Watching Luo Yiran’s triumphant grin, Yu Tong’s stomach dropped. A visceral dread whispered: She shouldn’t go.
He stood abruptly, words of warning on his tongue — then swallowed them.
As he rose, a clang rang out — the barber’s scissors hitting the floor.
The man seemed dazed, scrambling to retrieve them with fumbling urgency. Yu Tong caught a flicker of... guilt? Concealment?
By the time they paid, Luo Yiran had taken Gu Mei’s seat. "Just thin it out", she said, smoothing her raven hair.
Outside, autumn wind blew dead leaves across the salon floor.
Yu Tong glanced back through the window. The barber’s shadow flitted around Luo Yiran’s smiling profile — a sight that inexplicably tightened his chest.
Darkness fell as they walked campus-ward. "Why’d you give her the ticket?" Yu Tong asked. "We were supposed to go together."
"Do you even know what that movie is?" Gu Mei sipped green tea.
He realized he didn’t. At the box office, he’d grabbed the tickets without checking the title.
"It’s a horror film", she said, eyes widening. "So scary, someone allegedly died of fright watching it." Her nails dug into his arm. "And I think... people who see it might encounter something terrible afterward."
"Like what?"
"I don’t know. A feeling." She tossed her bottle into a bin — it landed silently.
The campus gate loomed ahead. Teacher Ni and Professor Yang played chess by the guardhouse, where a yellow bugle hung on the wall. Ni, leg recently healed, pondered his next move with intense focus. He was stubborn; beat him, and he’d demand rematches until victorious.
Gu Mei stayed quiet until they reached the dorms.
Under a star-swarmed sky, Yu Tong replayed her words: Something terrible.
What would happen? If Luo Yiran attended that screening, could she brave the empty streets alone afterward? Even in daylight, might danger find her?
The questions churned in his gut.
Even in bed, he couldn’t shake the image of Luo Yiran — or the ticket.
Or Gu Mei’s ominous warning: Something terrible is coming.