The Concession on the Edge of a Knife

Story Synopsis

In 1939, the Shanghai concessions have become an isolated island where rival forces vie for control, and danger lurks beneath the neon lights. Hu Xiaomin, a history teacher at a police academy, transmigrates unexpectedly and becomes a rookie agent in the Military Statistics Bureau, forced into a covert war fought without gunfire. His first assignment is to assassinate Cao Bingsheng, a deputy inspector in the French Concession police who is collaborating with the enemy. Armed with an advanced understanding of history and almost obsessive caution, Hu Xiaomin meticulously plans the killing, using multiple disguises and a series of carefully linked escape routes to get away clean. He even leaves behind a fake cipher notebook to throw the enemy camp into disarray.

But this is only the beginning. Japanese collaborators, agents from Number 76, and the wavering powers of the concessions form an inescapable web. Faced with careless superiors and constant surveillance, Hu Xiaomin must use his wits as a blade and patience as armor, treading carefully along the edge of a knife. He must do more than survive in this chaotic age. In the darkness, he must keep a flame alive for his country and its people.