The year 2148 is the era of emotional taxation.
Human emotional fluctuations have become collectible and tradable energy, and true feelings have become "contraband" that must be turned over.
Lin Che snatched the only "key" that could defeat the system from the laboratory of the Emotion Management Bureau - CR-40 Rose. It is both a weapon and a curse: every time a petal is torn off, it can be forcibly exchanged for a kind of survival ability, at the cost of permanently losing a fragment of humanity.
In the "melting pot" where laughter is forced, he loses the ability to feel simple happiness. In the "swamp" where he indulges in sadness, he chooses to forget the emotions in the memory of the last conversation with his mentor. In the absolutely sophisticated "checkpoint", he is forced to surrender his perception of the passage of time and live in the eternal moment without "past" and "future".
The road ahead is a series of purgatory passes that devour human nature. Each pass tests the weakness of human nature, and each pass strips away the proof that he is a "human being".
The roses in his arms withered due to constant payment, but Su Li, who was far away in the cage, got closer to him with every separation. Their connection is being rewoven by this cruel "payment".
Lin Che gradually realized that this escape might have been an experiment - the withering of each petal pushed him towards a terrifying truth: when the last petal falls, will the one who wakes up be a complete "us", or will it be a monster that has completely lost itself?
This is a gamble of exchanging soul fragments for reunion. Every payment brought him one step closer to her and one step further away from "himself".
