The Canal Transport Mystery: Assassinating the Nine-Thousand-Year-Old from the Start

In the first year of the Jinghe reign, newly appointed jinshi Lin Yizhou enters officialdom full of ambition. On his very first day, he boards the prestigious government grain-transport ship. But instead of a bright future, he is met with a cataclysmic explosion that reduces Wei Zhong, the all-powerful Ninth Thousand Years, to ashes. Death is not the end. When he wakes again, he discovers that he has returned to one hour before the explosion. Everything starts over. Trapped in a prison of time, he suffers the agony of being consumed by flames again and again, yet can never escape his fatal destiny. After countless failures, he realizes the only variable that matters is the black-clad female assassin who struck at the Ninth Thousand Years with her blade before the explosion: Su Shisanniang. This time, he chooses to save the assassin first. Beneath their blades, two figures who should have been enemies are forced into a fragile alliance. The cold, mysterious Su Shisanniang is connected to an organization that knows the secrets of the dynasty. And the truth behind the shrewd Ninth Thousand Years’ death is far more complicated than it seems. Using the repeating hour, Lin Yizhou plays the board like a master, testing one strategy after another. He navigates the battles between upright officials and the eunuch faction, uncovers the vast dark network of smuggling and human trafficking behind the grain transport system, and stumbles upon the horrifying secret that the emperor is trying to defy heaven and prolong his life. Yet the greatest mystery lies in Lin Yizhou himself. The unfamiliar memories that flash through his mind during the cycle gradually piece together a secret about his origins that could overturn everything he knows. It turns out he is not merely a player, but the most deeply hidden piece on this board of mysteries.