He is the source of all evil, and the end of every tragedy.
Pei Yunshu, the frail genius admired by the whole school, wants nothing more than to spend the rest of his life quietly in the shadows. Then four bizarre serial murders, each involving a “black cat,” slash through the city’s peace like a blade.
Officer Chen Feng discovers that all the victims share a secret with Pei Yunshu: they all attended a primary school called “Dawn” in the west of the city. And this seemingly innocent, fragile boy has become the killer’s most important “fifth cat.”
The mastermind, Li Lei, a ghost risen from the shadows of childhood, issues him a deadly challenge to his face: “Try to stop me. Otherwise, you’ll die.”
To survive, Pei Yunshu has no choice but to step into this battle of wits, where life itself is at stake. Using his extraordinary psychological insight, he gradually tears away the killer’s disguise, only to discover that every clue points to the past he most wants to bury: his violent father, who died in a fire.
But the truth is a despair deeper than murder.
When the secret of the only light in his childhood, class monitor Lin Yuqing, is finally revealed, and twisted love tangles with deep-seated hatred, Pei Yunshu realizes in horror that he thought he was hunting the killer, but in fact he has been walking straight toward the final altar the killer prepared especially for him.
This is a death game with no winners. When birthday candles become flames that consume everything, and letters of repentance scatter on the wind, all that remains for him is a world utterly destroyed and the endless desolation of its ashes.
The Fifth Cat: When the ghost watching over your childhood returns, how will you face this rusted truth...
