The nights in Linyuan City are never peaceful.
When “rules” become executioner's blades hanging over everyone's heads, every chilling line of text hides deadly danger. The warning “No walking in the halls after ten” at school, the curse “You must reply within three minutes” in office buildings, and the taboo “Do not mention your children” in nursing homes are all strands in an invisible web. Those who break the rules may be swallowed by shadows, trapped in endless loops, or lose themselves and become fodder for the rules.
Yang Hao, a former criminal police officer, enters this city controlled by the “Weaver” to investigate his younger sister's bizarre disappearance three years ago. He disguises himself as a school janitor to infiltrate a locked dormitory, poses as an intern and gets trapped in a deadly overtime cycle, and volunteers at a nursing home to uncover its secrets of forgetting... With every rules-based mystery he solves, he discovers even more painful social wounds beneath the surface. And the truth about the Weaver is inextricably entwined with a century of pain and despair accumulated in Linyuan City.
Are loopholes in the rules a way out or a trap? Is the mysterious “Rule Keeper” a friend or foe? When victims from different corners of the city unite through their shared fear, can they tear apart this death web woven from humanity's darkest emotions with courage and compassion?
“Remember, rules aren't protection. They're a cage.”
