Lu Shen returns to Puying Miao Village to investigate a baffling case from the 1980s involving a missing bride. A rust-speckled copper key in his palm and the mysterious notebook his father left behind intertwine his fate with that of a local woman, Lin Ying. Skeletons in the Bat Cave, tally marks on its walls, and a Miao handkerchief embroidered with protective patterns point, clue by clue, toward a secret buried for thirty years. Luo Yongkun's crippled leg, the strange behavior of the mute old woman, and Luo Zhenye's deliberate attempts to cover things up only thicken the mystery. As the investigation deepens, a Qing-dynasty miners' altar and the transnational smuggling ring known as the Shadow Hall emerge. Lu Shen discovers that his father's disappearance is closely tied to the secret of radioactive ore that the Shadow Hall concealed, and that both the geological survey team's mystery from thirty years ago and the miners' bizarre deaths stemmed from it. With the help of Lin Ying and people in the know, including Su Wantang, Lu Shen overcomes one obstacle after another and searches caves deep in the mountains. He finds evidence of his father's research and exposes the Shadow Hall's shocking scheme to traffic in strategic resources, bringing everyone involved to justice. His father is finally recognized as a revolutionary martyr. Lu Shen and Lin Ying marry in the Miao village and take up the fight against cultural relic crimes. The dense fog over Puying Mountain lifts, the dead finally receive justice, and a new life quietly begins with justice and warmth. My new work is out! Come read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you enjoy it. Your support motivates me to write, and I'll do my best to tell every story well!
