In the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu's reign, a prosperous Qing Dynasty never appeared in history books. The combination of steam and mechanics made this ancient Eastern empire glow with unprecedented vitality. In the sky above the capital "Shenjing", behemoth-like airships cast steel shadows; deep in the imperial city, precise gears drive the pulse of the empire.
However, under the prosperity, there are dangers.
Shen Xingyi, a top secret agent affiliated with the radical reformist "Westernization Party", codenamed "Candle Shadow", is good at disguise and manipulation of micromachines. Like a ghost walking between glazed tiles and brass pipes, he was ordered to steal a core technology blueprint that could change the future of the empire.
At the same time, Mo Yuan, the ace female agent of the "Zong Weapon Mansion" who is loyal to the imperial power and tradition, codenamed "Xuanniao", is a perfect combination of ancient martial arts and imperial mechanics. The order she received was to eliminate all "rebellious parties" and "Western spies" who attempted to subvert the order, and Shen Xingyi was her number one target.
When a genius "master of craftsmanship" who holds the empire's top secrets is mysteriously murdered in his workshop, the stolen blueprint becomes the trigger for everything. Shen Xingyi and Mo Yuan, like two stars launched from different orbits, inevitably collide violently in the center of the whirlpool of the murder case.
One is for the "future" in the faith, and the other is to protect the "tradition" in the heart. In the death game of mutual pursuit and suspicion, they gradually uncovered the shocking conspiracy hidden under the factional struggle - an "Albion Plan" that was enough to dismantle the entire empire and devastate thousands of lives.
