Desperate, she returned to her grandmother’s village. The old house was crumbling, the well in the courtyard sealed with concrete and iron bars. “Don’t open it,” the neighbors warned. “Something was put there to sleep.”

The city never knew. But Xia Yu, forgotten by history, had finally been remembered by someone who dared to dig.

Every night at 3:33 a.m., she dreamed of a flooded street. Lanterns floated like drowned fireflies. A child’s hand reached up through dark water. And always, a voice whispered: “Find the well.”