Marching Through the Embers Together

The old alleys of Nancheng are the darkest corner of the city, and where Lu Jin and Shen Weicheng’s story begins. One is a wild child raised by a grandmother who scavenges for a living, prickly and fierce as a lone wolf. The other is a quiet boy who lost both his parents and ran away from an orphanage, reserved and taciturn, with stubbornness hidden in his eyes. That summer, Shen Weicheng is bullied, and his steamed bun is trampled into the mud. Lu Jin rushes to his aid without a thought for his own safety, taking a beating to shield him. “My name is Lu Jin. From now on, I’ll protect you.” A lamp, a bed, and half a steamed bun shared between them. They keep each other warm on freezing nights and scrape by among the garbage heaps. In the darkness, they are the only light either of them has. On a rooftop beneath the stars, the boys make a vow. Lu Jin will become a police officer and rid the world of evil. Shen Weicheng looks at him and softly says, “I’ll go with you.” Neither of them imagines that fate will send them in completely opposite directions. Years later, Lu Jin is the sharpest blade in the city police bureau, upright and righteous, protecting countless homes. But Shen Weicheng rises step by step from an abyss no one knows exists, climbing over blood and darkness until he becomes a man the underworld fears and respects. The boys who once stood side by side are now worlds apart, one in the light and the other in the abyss. When they meet again, one is a cop and the other a criminal, justice against evil, locked in a fight to the death. He is the criminal the other is desperate to arrest. He is the person the other will give everything to protect. Blades clash and guns are aimed. Every time they draw near, they test each other; every glance is agony. Though a sea of blood and the boundary between life and death lie between them, neither can let go of the last tender feeling they hold in their hearts.