At Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, everyone knows the strange senior named Xu Yanqing: dirt poor, taciturn, yet firmly seated at the top of his grade. Nobody knows that this seemingly mild-mannered boy was once a provincial martial arts champion, or that he is a hacker known on the dark web by the codename "Candle Shadow."
Lin Wanxing's life plan is simple: get into a top university and take her mother away from this bleak city. Then, one rainy night, she sees Xu Yanqing being beaten by school bullies, only to watch him counter all five with a fluid series of moves. Even more shocking, the next day the father of the bullies, a powerful member of the school board, is swept into a storm of public opinion over an anonymous report.
"We need each other," Xu Yanqing tells her. "You help me stand in the light, and I'll clear the shadows from your path."
And so two souls who should have had nothing to do with each other embark on a dangerous conspiracy:
· He uses code to infiltrate an unjust system, while she uses her pen to bring silent truths to light;
· He ends fights with martial arts in the ring, while she outwits the odds in the exam hall;
· He carries a secret from the past that nearly destroyed him, while she protects the last glimmer of hope in her broken family.
With the provincial mathematics competition trophy, the underground hacking contest's hidden throne, and an invitation to the national martial arts championships all within reach, Xu Yanqing knows he has to choose: keep concealing his talents and climb the social ladder, or rip away every disguise and declare his revenge on those who destroyed his past?
And Lin Wanxing gradually realizes that what draws her to this boy has never been his so-called "invincibility" or "all-around talent," but rather the scars he bears
One sentence recommendation: "If the light refuses to shine on us, we will be each other's light—even if it means being the enemy of the entire world."