[Core Premise]
● World:
Set in the shadows of the real world, the story centers on the “Ghost Market,” an underground trading network that exists on the fringes of law and morality. Antiques are not the only things traded here: information, secrets, and human nature are up for sale, too.
● Protagonist:
Chen Mo, 32, is the owner of the “Time Restoration Shop” in the Ghost Market. He looks languid and world-weary, but in fact possesses two extraordinary talents: “absolute touch” and “microexpression profiling.” By feeling the tiniest flaws in an object, he can reconstruct the truth of its history. By observing a person's slightest movements, he can see through their lies.
● Central Conflict:
While searching for his missing father, Chen Mo is forced into the conspiracy of an organization called “Changshengtian.” He must use his restoration skills to navigate between various factions, including smuggling rings, mysterious collectors, and undercover police officers, restoring one cursed or secret-laden “ominous object” after another.
● Creative Highlights:
● Episodic Structure: Every three to five chapters resolve one “restoration commission.” Behind each commission lies a self-contained story about human nature, involving people such as a greedy tycoon, a lovesick opera performer, or a vengeful assassin. Eventually, all the clues converge into a single main plot.
● Cinematic Visuals: The restoration process is described with a focus on “macro aesthetics,” making the painstaking work of restoration as tense and thrilling as defusing a bomb.
