Preface
In a certain coastal province of mainland China—one of the earliest to open up during the reform era—rapid economic development has led to massive population influx from other regions. Over time, the resident population has surged to nearly a hundred million.
With such a dense and diverse population, all sorts of problems naturally arise—some even bordering on the supernatural. Though modern China has long upheld the principle of eradicating superstition, there remain incidents that defy scientific explanation, placing authorities in an awkward position.
To quietly handle such bizarre occurrences, the Provincial Public Security Bureau secretly established the Paranormal Case Task Force, known internally as the "Unseen Files Division." Their mission is to investigate and resolve unexplained phenomena across the province.
Because its very existence contradicts official policy, the task force is never publicly acknowledged. Most civilians—and even active-duty officers—have never even heard of it. The cases they take on are so bizarre, so surreal, that releasing them to the public would undoubtedly cause mass panic.
Thus, all case files handled by the division are classified as top-secret, accessible only to its members and a handful of senior officials. But rules are made to be broken. What if these files were treated not as reports, but as fiction? As stories for the curious to enjoy in leisure? If so, dear reader, take them lightly. Do not dig too deep. For if you seek truth too eagerly, this tale may be forced to end.
📖Volume I: White Serpent – Curse of the Spirit LineagePrologue
"Brother An, what do we do? Looks like we hit an ancient tomb… Should we tell the site manager?"
The setting sun bled across the sky as a group of construction workers gathered around a dark, gaping hole in the foundation of a building site. Their foreman, a brawny man known as Brother An, stood silently before it.
After a long pause, his eyes swept across the nervous faces of his men. "The manager's gone home," he said grimly. "As long as none of us talk, no one else has to know what we found. If you're not afraid to get your hands dirty—and maybe risk your life—come down with me. Whatever we find, we split evenly. Anyone who wants to back out, now's the time."
"I'm in!"Count me too!""Let's do it!"
Excitement flared in their voices as if the hole were a gateway to treasure, not terror.
"Good! The eight of us—brothers in fortune and misfortune. Anyone with a traitorous heart will die a miserable death!" Brother An gave a twisted grin, then led the descent into the maw of the earth, as if into the jaws of a waiting beast...
Ten months later.
"Ping'an! Don't leave me! Don't leave me and our unborn baby!" A woman—heavily pregnant—sobbed uncontrollably at her husband's hospital bedside.
Brother An lay dying, breath shallow, and eyes dim. Summoning the last of his strength, he whispered, "We shouldn't have disturbed her... She's angry. She's... punishing us. They're all dead... and I won't survive either..."
Coughing violently, he gasped, "Take care of the child... I spent my life in construction... If it's a boy or girl, call it... Xiaolou... 'Little Building'..."
His voice faded. He exhaled one final breath. His wife collapsed beside him, weeping bitterly—and beneath her sobs, a faint hissing sound could be heard…
🌕Scene Two
The full moon hung high, casting a silver pall over the serene campus of the Provincial Medical University. Outside the campus walls, three drunken students stumbled along, preparing to scale the fence back into their dorm.
One of them glanced at the moon, suddenly shivering. "Is… is it the fifteenth on the lunar calendar tonight?"
"Looks like it," said the chubby one, already halfway up the wall. "The moon's damn round. What, you getting poetic, Yu? Want to have a poetry-off with Four-Eyes here?"
Four-Eyes adjusted his glasses, then gazed up at the moon with a genuinely thoughtful look. Yshowedd him. "Hell no! I just remembered the legend… about the ghost woman with a baby."
Four-Eyes immediately stiffened. "Shut up, man! Don't talk about ghosts at night!"
"Come on, I've got your backs! Let's go," Chubby called down, reaching to pull them up.
Midnight. The campus lay still, wrapped in a hushed, uneasy silence. Even in a group, the night air felt colder than it should have.
"Hiss hiss hiss... White Serpent Fairy; lives a thousand years, her magic unmatched. Whoosh whoosh whoosh… the north wind blows, she feeds her belly, fresh with hearts below…"
As they passed through the camphor grove behind the dormitories, a strange, childlike nursery rhyme drifted eerily through the trees.
Four-Eyes stopped dead in his tracks, face pale as paper. "Did... did you guys hear that?"
Yu's arms were crossed, trembling. "They say... when the moon is full, the ghost of a woman cradling a baby appears here, singing that song over and over. If you meet her… she rips your heart out."
"Don't freak yourselves out. That's just an upperclassman's ghost story to scare newbies," Chubby said, eyes darting nervously.
"Let's go!" he urged.
But they hadn't walked far when all three suddenly stopped.
Leaning against a tree was a woman, gently rocking a baby in her arms, her lips moving in a mournful whisper. Her hair was long and unkempt, covering most of her face except for half a mouth.
Slowly, she turned her head toward them.
From beneath that curtain of hair, a pair of bloodthirsty eyes gleamed.
"Aaaaahhhhhh—!"
The scream shattered the stillness of the night.
🧨Scene Three
Provincial Public Security Bureau. Director's Office.
Director Liang was flipping through a case file sent by the Criminal Investigation Department. With each page, his brow furrowed deeper.
A knock sounded on the door.
"Come in."
A portly middle-aged man entered, eyes sharp despite the flabby features. "You asked for me, Director?"
"When it's just us, drop the formalities. Call me by name."
The man remained indifferent. "Let's stick with Director Liang during work hours."
Liang sighed. "Still holding a grudge over your transfer out of CID, are you? It wasn't entirely my choice, you know."
"I'm fine," said the man—Liang Zheng, now of the Anti-Vice Squad. "My current job's great. Meals, drinks, poker, stock trading... No thinking required."
He gave a thin smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"You still blame me," Liang said. "That case you insisted on pursuing two years ago... I was under pressure from both the last director and the provincial government. I had no choice but to shut it down. You wouldn't let it go—so I reassigned you."
"It's the past. Let's not dwell on it." His tone was light, but a flicker of resentment flashed in his eyes.
"The past may be over, but the future might be worse," Liang said grimly, tossing a case folder across the desk.
Liang Zheng skimmed the file. "A ghost attack on campus? Two dead, one injured? This isn't exactly under the Anti-Vice department's jurisdiction."
"Exactly. It's under no one's," Liang said with a sly smile. "Which is why I've spoken to Secretary Wang—we're forming a new unit: The Paranormal Case Task Force. To deal with cases like this. Are you interested in a career change?"
A spark lit up in Liang Zheng's eyes but faded just as quickly. "The government would never authorize such a team."
"Which is why they won't. Officially, the unit doesn't exist. On paper, it's just another CID sub-team. But its investigations report directly to me. Trials, decisions, everything—handled internally. No press, no public disclosures."
Liang Zheng said nothing, but the slight curl of his lips betrayed his satisfaction.
"You'll have full authority to choose five team members from anywhere in the province—official or unofficial. But you've got two weeks to solve this case."
"Give me just one man," Liang Zheng said, voice firm, "and I'll crack it in a week."
"Who?"
"Mu Shenyu. From the Anti-Theft Division."
Liang paused. "You mean the kid who used to work under you?"
"The same."
"No problem. He's wasted where he is now anyway."
"I'll get back to you on the rest of the team after reviewing the personnel files."
"Very well."
Liang Zheng turned to leave, then paused at the door. "Thanks... brother."