From the Start, My Life Was on the Line at the Dali Temple, with a Year of My Life Taken

Winter, the thirteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, Chang’an. Shen Yan is the least impressive member of the Dali Temple: a lowly clerk who spends all day copying case files. One day at work, a voice suddenly appears in his head. It says it’s the System: “Solve a case for me, and I’ll teach you a skill. Fail, and I’ll take a year off your lifespan.” Shen Yan tries asking, “What if I refuse?” The System says, “You only have this life because I saved you. If you won’t work, I can take it back whenever I want.” Shen Yan falls silent. He doesn’t want to die, especially not in a dry well without a drop of water. But his body has already “drowned” in that very well once before. By the time they pulled him out, he was all waterlogged. Even stranger, the more he investigates, the more he realizes that the voice taking years off his life seems to be entangled with all the dead in the city. This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.