Humanity in the New Century

In 2077, technological development entered a new era, and the medical industry made great strides in treating human diseases. The pharmaceutical research institute of Huangjin Pharmaceuticals achieved a breakthrough: a team of scientists led by Shen Buhai developed a drug capable of curing cancer. Under pressure from company executives, they had no choice but to illegally conduct human trials in order to develop the anticancer drug as quickly as possible. Their test subjects were undocumented residents of the slums of Quyang City, people with no freedom to choose their own work.

On the city’s squalid streets, sick people in ragged clothes lay sprawled on filthy ground. At nearly every turn, someone was gravely ill.

Zhao Cuo, one of the undocumented residents, has cancer, as does his son Zhao Xiao, who is in the late stages of the disease. Father and son huddle in a shadowy alley, quietly awaiting death. Then Shen Buhai finds them and offers them a “helping hand.”