The Second Kind of Death

The Second Kind of Death is a novel by the suspense writer Da Xiu Zhe Tian, using the unusual premise of "social death" as an entry point into urban horror. The author divides death into two levels: the end of natural life, and the "second kind of death" in which one is forgotten by everyone and ceases to exist within social relationships. The protagonist Jiang Ling, while investigating a supernatural incident in a rented apartment, seeks the truth together with her reclusive roommate Xu Xiaobing, who claims to be an orphan. She discovers that people around her are undergoing this eerie "disappearance": at first, others cannot remember them after turning away; then their social traces are erased one by one; finally, even they themselves begin to lose their memories, becoming invisible people who exist in the world yet are recognized by no one. Yu Fei, Jiang Ling's first love from university, also sinks step by step into this state; Pei Xuan, who calls himself one of the "disappeared," appears and reveals the secret of Xu Xiaobing's origins, while Meng Ling, a former tenant of Room 02, becomes a key clue in the supernatural investigation. Beneath its suspense-mystery framework, the story is about memory, existence, and social relationships: when a person is deleted by the world, is it that others have forgotten him, or that he himself first gave up on being remembered? The atmosphere is slow and oppressive throughout, relying not on sudden scares but on sinking layer by layer into sorrow. This edition is an e-book released by Zhejiang Publishing Group Digital Media Co., Ltd., included in the "Crime Reasoning Agency" series.