In 1941, undercurrents were surging in the French Concession in Shanghai. The Japanese Special High School Section and the Wang Puppet Secret Service set up a dragnet to search for the "shadow" group of military command lurking in Shanghai. My name is Chen Mo. On the surface, I am an ordinary detective in the patrol room of the French Concession. In fact, I am an undercover agent placed by the military commander in the heart of the enemy, codenamed "Clockmaker". My golden fingers can see the key fragments of the past 24 hours by touching objects. These "eyes of retrospect" have become my only reliance on walking on the tip of the knife.
Three years ago, my most respected superior and adoptive father was betrayed by a traitor, and his whole family was silenced. I was the only one who managed to escape because of my mission, and the traitor was the apprentice whom my adoptive father regarded as his own son. Now, the Japanese army has launched the "Plan to Clear the Countryside" to destroy Shanghai's underground party organization within a week. Time is running out. I must protect the organization while finding the traitors and avenging my adoptive father.
What made me even more uneasy was that my childhood sweetheart Su Wan, who had disappeared for three years, suddenly appeared in front of me as the translator of the Japanese Army's Special High School Course. Was she forced to compromise, or had she already betrayed her? The serial murders in the French Concession, the mysterious explosions in the Japanese arsenal, and the frequent loss of contact at underground radio stations all point to a huge conspiracy. Against the pressure of the patrol room, the suspicion of the Japanese army, and the conspiracy of the traitors, I used the "eye of retrospect" to peel off the cocoons and race against time on the edge of life and death, just to tear a ray of light in the darkness, not only to avenge the bloodshed, but also to protect the peace of my family and country.
