Zhang Zhibai, an ordinary spatial designer, has recently fallen into a recurring nightmare. In his dreams, a remnant soul calling itself Bai Cang keeps rambling about “rules,” “entropy increase,” and “costs,” none of which he understands. Then, by chance, he uses a sketch from his dream, and the misfortune that has been dogging him truly begins to fade away. In that moment, the familiar modern city seems to peel away like a faded oil painting, revealing a bizarre, otherworldly reality beneath.
Forced to form a pact with the mysterious remnant soul, Zhang Zhibai embarks on a path with no turning back: he reads people's fortunes, resolves calamities, and takes payment in something called “merit.” But he gradually discovers that everything he does seems to serve some greater design. What does the being concealed inside the ancient jade want from him? And where do the cold memories that flash through his mind after each time his “merit” is complete come from, when they clearly aren't his own?
The world is silently falling apart, and he is forced to gather the fragments of a bygone age scattered across the vast ocean. With every step closer to the truth, he moves farther from the ordinary life he once knew.
Is he repairing the world's cracks, or the iron bars of the cage imprisoning his own fate?
