The Mystery of the Tangerine Shadow

Ye Ju is a down-and-out detective, a loser whose days revolve around cheap whiskey and a chaotic life. But he has a strange ability no one knows about: by touching an object, he can trigger “Crime Vision” and glimpse fragments of a crime scene, at the cost of suffering the killer's sensory torment as they committed the crime. He also has an even stranger “partner”: a fat orange cat that only he can see, appearing and disappearing at will. Its attitude is terrible, yet at crucial moments it always brings about “coincidences.”

When construction contractor Wang Jianguo comes to him with the grim news that his daughter, Wang Xiaoya, has gone missing, along with a dream message saying “the cement is so cold,” Ye Ju takes the case out of financial desperation. His ability activates, showing him the cold instant when the arrogant killer hid a necklace, and making him experience the suffocating agony of drowning. The clues point to the victim's rich second-generation boyfriend, Zhang Chen, and a construction site run by his family's Shangpin International.

Ye Ju infiltrates the site. With the orange cat's subtle guidance, he finds the crucial necklace in a gap in the concrete formwork. But Zhang Chen suddenly appears, revealing his murderous intentions and attempting to silence him. At the last possible moment, a handcart inexplicably rolls forward and knocks Zhang Chen aside, buying time for the police to arrive. The truth comes out: Zhang Chen killed Wang Xiaoya after his debts and lies were exposed, then entombed her remains in a concrete pillar.

With the case solved, Ye Ju collects his fee and carries on with his wretched yet perilous life. The orange cat remains a mystery. Was the handcart's intervention another coincidence, or was it the cat's supernatural doing? Ye Ju no longer seeks answers. He simply partners with this elusive “fat cat” and continues to roam the shadows of the city, uncovering the truth behind one bizarre crime after another.