The Strange Shop

The Strange Shop is a suspense and supernatural novel by the web author Yi Tianzi, first published on Heiyan Reading. Alongside his other supernatural works such as Ghost Raiser, Underworld Walker, and Ghost Market Broker, it is another urban horror tale. The story begins with an ordinary online purchase: lured by a mid-year sale, the protagonist spends 9.9 yuan on a bracelet online, only to discover after putting it on that this cheap secondhand item has a dirty origin. Its previous owner is a dead man in a hospital gown, who thereafter latches onto him and drives him step by step into a world at odds with common sense. Drawn out around the bracelet are a series of eerie events: Hospital 104, a ward on the negative fourteenth floor, seven coffins, paper effigies carrying a coffin, a deserted village, and more. The protagonist and those around him grope for the rules through one fright after another, seeking a way out, and gradually close in on the existence known as the Strange Shop and the greater secret behind it. The work continues the author's specialty of folk tales and urban horror, using the everyday lesson that cheap goods are no good as its hook and advancing the story in short, fast-paced chapters. The atmosphere is gloomy and the sense of rules strong, making it suitable for readers who enjoy supernatural suspense and urban horror.