A Dark Tide Eats at the Heart

A string of murders. A perfect crime program called “Project Dawn.”

Three cold cases resurface after three years. Freelance writer Lin Wei is found dead in a dark alley, a silver triangular stud in her left ear and a yellow smiley-face sticker from 1974 clutched in her palm. The traces are identical to those in the unsolved cases from three years ago.

Detective Captain Si Jixing is assigned to investigate, but is forced to partner with the police station’s most difficult consultant, criminal profiler Jiang Xun.

One searches bloodstains and fingerprints for physical evidence; the other reads symbols and behavior to sketch the killer’s soul.

They soon discover that this is no copycat. The killer is systematically “screening” victims. The murders are only one part of the “program.” When Bai Ling, a host at the city’s TV station, appears on the list as Sample Number Seven, the countdown begins: a live execution in 72 hours.

The killer doesn’t want a hidden murder, but a “ritual” witnessed by the masses. Every move the police make becomes cold data in his experiment report.

Si Jixing and Jiang Xun face a final choice:

Keep running themselves ragged inside the killer’s script?

Or take the initiative and build a stage, wagering against the “director” under the spotlight, using the killer’s own rules to carry out a reverse hunt?

Hard-boiled police procedural × psychological warfare × socially conscious suspense

Symbolic killings, programmed crimes, a duel between two formidable men

As undercurrents surge, who is watching, and who is being experimented on?