Twenty-One Days

At 10:12 p.m., after a cataclysmic tremor, the Future Dream Tower rapidly sank underground. Only twenty-three people survived by sheer luck. There was no light or water, and the oxygen was growing thin. Seven days and nights later, a rescue team ventured into “hell” and pulled out only six survivors. Deep beneath the earth, they found abundant traces of murder, but the six survivors refused to speak about what had happened underground. Legendary detective Ye Xiao repeatedly tried to piece together the darkest, most brutal murders that might have taken place deep underground. Again and again, he attempted to untangle the Rashomon-like web of lies and uncover the truth behind the “Hell on Earth” murder case. But deep below, he encountered the coldest depths of human nature: scenes of a human apocalypse more hellish than hell itself. They left him deeply conflicted. Even if he pursued the case until the truth finally came to light, would making it public bring an even greater disaster upon human society?