Praise for the Book:
“Reading ‘Tai Sui’ gave me shades of Junji Ito.”
“The first story is so vividly cinematic. The last one made me question my own sanity.”
“Folklore + sci‑fi – wild imagination.”
“The writing is incredibly imaginative. Folk stories infused with sci‑fi and horror.”

“Four tales, four technological allegories: ‘Tai Sui’ deconstructs the paradox of immortality through genetic contamination; ‘The Walker’ plunges into an ontological crisis via mind uploading; ‘Guixu’ turns a land‑reclamation myth into an organ‑trafficking nightmare; ‘Dream Overlay’ uses brain‑computer interfaces to expose the prison of memory. Traditional ghost stories are reconstructed through cyberpunk – mythic DNA mutating in a silicon world. When demons wear cyborg bodies and Jingwei becomes an AI, every dark fairy tale asks: in an age of technological godhood, what does it mean to be human?”
— Reader “DOG”

★ This breakout work from Xuan Ye, hailed as the “God of Chinese Weird Horror”, pushes the genre to new heights.
★ A collection of short stories blending folkloric horror, delirious fantasy, and technological dread.
★ Man‑eating Tai Sui, a ghost ship in the deep sea, endless nightmares… Folktales you thought you knew – until you read them and realize how terrifying they truly are.
★ Dark allegories lurking behind folk traditions, exploring human choices under trauma and extreme circumstances.

A collection blending folk horror and delirious fantasy.

“Tai Sui” : A never‑ending piece of Tai Sui (a mythical fungus) falls into a famine‑stricken village – and becomes the beginning of its total annihilation.
During the late Qing dynasty, the Great Drought devastates the land. The village of Nianjia is filled with corpses. Grave robbing is common; some even resort to cooking their own children. Then a lump of Tai Sui falls from the sky – its “flesh” is inexhaustible, granting every wish.
The villagers who survive by eating it soon develop other desires. Little do they know that the prophesied disaster has already begun – and everyone’s deepest greed is about to become a grotesque reality.

And more eerie stories await:
“The Walker” : Wu Song kills a tiger to achieve fame – at the cost of killing himself, again and again.
“Guixu” : Jingwei carries “branches” to fill the sea – except the branches are human limbs, and what she fills is an abyss of desire.
“Dream Overlay” : A doctor specializing in dream therapy is lured by a patient into an endless nightmare.

Xuan Ye is a popular post‑80s writer, acclaimed as the “God of Chinese Weird Horror.” He specializes in eerie and grotesque tales, particularly using Chinese‑style horror to explore the dark side of human nature. His works are known for their original concepts, profound themes, and shocking twists.

Tai Sui
The Walker
Guixu
Dream Overlay

Selected Golden Lines

1. Why is it that whenever drought strikes, we peasants starve and exchange our children for food – while officials and nobles still enjoy wine and song?

2. We are all lucky ones who escaped the judgment of the land – but at the same time, we are trapped in a prison called the ocean.

3. Love and marriage are also a dream, just like the scenarios simulated by the Dream Butterfly system. Machines use codes and electrical signals to create illusions; humans use hormones and chemical reactions. Either way, the dream always ends. She and I were thrown back into this messy reality.

4. My billions of possibilities… all exist simultaneously on that endless mountain ridge. The Jingyang Ridge is a box containing a cat, a dice cup – an experimental field for those Wanqu people.

5. A walker… walks only on a predetermined path.