The story is set in contemporary America, with the real social structure as the skeleton and superimposed "underworld rules". On the surface, the United States is a society ruled by law and a beacon of freedom, but in reality there are undercurrents - illegal immigrants are being exploited, lower-class Chinese are being discriminated against, gangs of various ethnic groups are separatist, and politicians and plutocrats are secretly colluding. The protagonist is at the bottom of this "jungle of rules" and is a gangster who is not even "qualified to be exploited."
