(Chinese: 葬花·暗黑桃花源, official English title: Lay a Beauty to Rest: Darkness Peach Blossom Spring) is a Visual Novel developed and published by Zero Creation Games (or Ling Chuang Youxi). It was released on Steam on October 22, 2021.The setting of the game is based on a classical Chinese poem called "The Peach Blossom Spring" about a utopian place isolated from the outside world and its instability.
The protagonist Ji Ming is a guy who lost his will to live due to being both fired from work and dumped by his girlfriend. He enters a forest in deep mountains, where he happens upon a strange cave. The cave leads him to the legendary Peach Blossom Spring, which (at least, at first glance) looks exactly like the place described in the poem: a beautiful place isolated for many years from the outside world, with friendly and peaceful folk living simple and happy life. However, right at the start he is presented with a strict rule of the village: nobody can go outside their home after the sunset, because some monstrous creatures called "mountain demons" are said to roam the Peach Blossom Spring at night.
This work makes use of the following tropes:
- Utopia: The Peach Blossom Spring looks like the happiest place in the world, without any conflict apart from children fighting. At night, however, that changes drastically.
- Ambiguously Bi: The Village Head's attitude towards the protagonist when in the night form sometimes can seem very close to some kind of Villainous Crush.
- Double-Meaning Title: The Chinese title 葬花 literally means "to bury flower(s)", but it also references the name of the central female character, Shuang Hua (双花, "two flowers").
- Jekyll & Hyde: All the residents of the village at night drastically change their personality, usually to an insane and violent one.
- Pen Name: Ji Ming (纪明), in fact, is just a made-up pseudonym, composed from two characters which are homonyms to 记, to remember, and 名, name. The real name of the protagonist is up to your choice.
- Princess Classic: Shuang Hua, the spiritual leader of the village. She is gorgeous, innocent and is the daughter of a king. Her night form, however, can't be called "innocent" by any means.
- Private Detective: The protagonist is one in search of the lost daughter of some powerful businessman. He discovers that entering the Peach Blossom Spring (where the girl's trail leads him) can't be achieved by ordinary means and asks his friend to hypnotize him and temporarily change his personality in order to be "accepted" by the Peach Blossom Spring.
