The Pawnshop Ledger of Remaining Lifespans

Synopsis of Chaos Spirit Root: Pact of the Realm Gate:

When ordinary young man Chen Mo receives an anonymous package in his rented apartment, containing half of a bronze token engraved with the character “Guard,” he thinks it’s a prank. That is, until a shadow passes through the wall and wakes him in the middle of the night. Only then does he realize that cracks have long since opened in the world around him: his middle-aged neighbor is a hidden cultivator, his company boss carries the bloodline of a demon clan, and deep in the subway tunnels, underworld clerks are tallying people’s “remaining lifespan.”

It turns out that so-called “reality” is no more than a thin sheet of paper. Behind it lie a marketplace for dealings between the worlds of yin and yang, secret hideouts of cultivators, and a mystery known as the “Chaos Spirit Root.” Chen Mo’s blood can burn yin creatures, and runes appear on objects he touches. Gradually, he realizes that he is the legendary “key” capable of tearing apart the barriers between the three realms.

On one side are text messages demanding rent; on the other, an underworld clerk handing him a “Lifespan Pawn Contract.” By day, he has to deal with his boss’s KPIs; by night, he has to help a fox demon find its stolen inner core. Caught between the mortal and the supernatural, Chen Mo wields the bronze token in his left hand to fend off the claws of vengeful ghosts, while his right hand is busy replying to @ mentions in the work chat. His life is an absurd comedy that never lets up.

Even worse, the mysterious “Realm Gate” is gradually awakening inside him, and the forces of both worlds want to claim him for themselves. The cultivation sects see him as a “vessel for defying fate,” the underworld clerks want to recruit him as an “auxiliary constable,” and the woman in black who keeps appearing at midnight says he is the reincarnation of a “fugitive from three hundred years ago.”

As the bronze token resonates with the Chaos Spirit Root inside him, Chen Mo stands in a swaying subway car, gazing out the window