In the cold winter of 1992, Longjiang City, a major industrial town in the north, was panting in the throes of transformation. A male corpse that was brutally "cement sealed" was discovered in an abandoned steel factory, with a stiff hand pointing towards the hazy sky. Qin Feng, director of the Forensic Center of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, a stern man with top-notch forensic expertise and fierce skills, discovered strange and tiny "rust-colored" particles deep in the wounds of the corpse and in the sealing cement - an unusual industrial residue. Qin Feng works side by side with Chen Guotao, the experienced criminal police captain who is constrained by the system. In the 1990s when information was limited and technology was backward, Qin Feng relied on insights and logic that transcended the times to make a living. What they face is a ghost who hides his killings under industrial waste, has cruel and cunning methods, and has strong anti-reconnaissance capabilities. Those scattered "rust" particles, like the deadly codes sown by criminals, are quietly connecting the old scars buried deep in Longjiang City with the turbulent undercurrents of the transformation period.
From the cold autopsy table to the rusty abandoned workshop, from the desperate struggle at the bottom to the intricate shady interests, "Cold Frontier in the North" tells the story of how forensic doctor Qin Feng uses bones as evidence and dust as the key in the biting cold wind of the North to unravel a shocking unsolved case that spans many years and involves many bloody branches, letting the silent steel echo with the belated truth.
