Crime and Punishment: A Game in the Land of the Dead

Survival, apocalyptic mind games + Chinese-style rules + redemption through original sin

Real-world anxieties: selfish human nature and fear of survival

I want to say, this is a game similar to The Ten Days of the End.

The apocalypse isn’t a natural disaster. It’s a forced game for “the guilty.”

A battle of human nature. Neither the sun nor human nature can be looked at directly.

Lin Chu opened his eyes, pain flaring in the scar on his left chest.

Four metal-frame beds, three strangers: a man in a suit checking his pockets, a man in work clothes staring at the wall, and a schoolgirl crying.

A bronze monkey held out a bamboo slip:

“Welcome to the Twelve Double-Hours Formation.”

“You are all burdened with karmic sins. This is a place of atonement, and a place where you will be buried.”

“There are only three rules: One, the ‘Double-Hour Game’ begins every day at the hour of the Rabbit. Two, the winner earns merit, while the loser loses years of life. Three, anyone whose remaining years reach zero will have their soul annihilated.”

An hourglass icon appeared. The sand was running.

Beyond the glass wall, in another room, another “Lin Chu” was watching him.

That wasn’t a reflection.

It was a player from the previous round.

This game of atonement had already been repeated thirty-seven times.