[Dystopian] [No Golden Finger] [Not a Power Fantasy] [Self-Redemption] [Plot-Driven] [Dark Science Fiction]
In Year 47 of the New Era, emotions are taxed according to their intensity. Happiness costs money, anger incurs fines, and sadness can be paid off in installments.
Shen Xu is just an ordinary office worker, living cautiously every day. Even his dreams are taxed.
Then he discovers that his girlfriend is an “Emotion Hunter” for the Bureau, using romance to hunt high-value targets.
“You think I ever loved you? I don’t even know what ‘love’ is,” she says, then blocks him.
His account is emptied, his identity stripped away, and his name added to the list for the Abyss Laboratory. People there are dissected alive, their emotional cores extracted, and turned into “hollow shells” doomed to never be reborn.
During his escape, a mysterious organization saves him. They teach him how to “tune”: manipulate emotional waves, deceive the System, and even...devour other people’s emotions.
Shen Xu learns fast. Too fast.
His mentor calls him a “once-in-a-decade genius.” The combat team leader starts to suspect him. And Shen Xu discovers that he is getting hungrier and hungrier. Not in his stomach, but in his soul.
His anger can turn people into hollow shells. His sorrow can set an entire street ablaze. The more emotions he steals, the stronger he becomes, and the less human he feels.
“Power has weight,” his mentor warns him. “Don’t let it crush you.”
But Shen Xu doesn’t care. He only wants to find Lin Wantang and ask her one last question:
“When you said ‘mission accomplished,’ was it your mission, or my fate?”
This is a dark science-fiction story of anger, betrayal, and self-redemption.
The setting feels very creative, the narrative is also good, and it has a lot of feeling. It would have been perfect if the pace were faster. Overall, it's very good. After reading a little further, it is not suitable for people who like refreshing novels. The plot of this book is a bit slow and has a strong sense of substitution. If you read it carefully and patiently, you will find it very interesting.