Soul Whisperer

Soul Whisperer is an urban supernatural web novel whose protagonist, Ma Chaoqun, is a high school senior. His family has fallen apart, leaving him withdrawn and nearly devoid of any desire to live. On the night of five planets aligning in a row, he unexpectedly becomes the "spokesperson of souls" and gains the ability to see and communicate with lingering spirits who refuse to fade away. The souls around him are a varied lot: a successful businessman, a physicist, an architect, a politician, and an elderly Chinese medicine practitioner. They use the knowledge and experience from their former lives to help Ma Chaoqun, and he in turn helps them resolve practical problems such as where to stay and how to communicate with the living world. Through these repeated acts of mutual aid and companionship, he gradually emerges from his self-imposed isolation, becomes more cheerful, and is drawn into the vortex of a power struggle as old and new forces trade places, forcing him to learn a variety of survival skills. The story interweaves family bonds, friendship, and power struggles, and uses the fantastical premise of "souls" to discuss knowledge and the unknown, life and death and eternity, and the weight of emotional connection between people. Told with both warmth and reflection, it is a strikingly original early work of supernatural fiction in Chinese web literature.