In Licheng, where all the beasts are disguised as humans, seventeen-year-old Su Wan is an ordinary high school student who’s even afraid of getting blood drawn during a checkup. But she hides a secret: she can hear “echoes of emotion,” and the beasts posing as humans carry rust-like malice in their heartbeats. On her birthday, she discovers awakening runes floating in the soup her “mother” has cooked. The anguished screams exploding in her ears awaken her once and for all.
It’s only when she binds to the “Bond” System that Su Wan learns she’s one in a million: a human among beasts. And the transfer student, Tengu, who always quietly follows her after evening study sessions, turns out to be the only awakened one who can handle her emotional swings. “The world is fake, but bonds are real.” With a Greed Beast weaving its web beneath her desk and a Wrath Beast grinning from within a pile of exam papers, she grips the rune dagger Tengu hands her. In a fog of lies, she has to survive, and protect the people worth saving.
