In a world where strange cases of "literary traces vanishing" occur again and again, old-bookshop owner Lin Keben only wants to spend his days in peace among the scent of ink and paper, looking after his twelve-square-meter Yanzhi Bookshop. But a sudden transformation awakens his "Erosion of Text Origin": he can unconsciously devour writing and traces of civilization. The authorities label him an S-rank high-risk individual, and the world erases him completely: his bookshop is demolished, his friends and family forget him, his identity records are wiped clean, and every trace that he ever existed is gone without a trace.
Just as despair sets in, Chen Linke discovers that he can do more than "erode text": the words he writes do not disappear. They can even take shape in empty spaces, and connect to vanished memories and objects. Armed with a notebook made of kraft paper and a pen nearly out of ink, he starts by evading the authorities' pursuit, then gradually tries to recover the erased bookshop and bring vanished ancient texts back into existence. He also unexpectedly discovers that his ability can accumulate "literary-state energy," allowing vanished things to become tangible.
When the world tries to erase his past, Chen Linke chooses to wield his pen as a blade and his words as a shield. On a blank canvas, he writes a set of "laws" of his own, giving every forgotten trace the meaning of existence once more.
