Nine Tribulations, Return to the Ruins

Shen Heng woke up in a sealed stone chamber. The air above him reeked of blood. Carved into the table were the words “Ledger of Guilt and Punishment.” The thing in the bronze mirror said, “You are all dead. Find the innocent within nine days, or crumble to dust.” He was a forensic pathologist. He didn't look at faces; he looked at hands. Among the nine pairs, he saw eight crimes and one shared secret: the judgment had gone wrong. But after the gate of the stone court opened, he discovered that the chamber was only the first trial. Beyond the gate lay a city built from the bones of the dead. On the ninth day, everyone disintegrated. Then he woke up in the chamber again. A piece of his memory was gone. New words had appeared on the back of his hand. The stone walls were covered in scores of marks, layer upon layer. Each layer belonged to a rebel. Every one of them had failed. He wasn't the first. This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.