Candlepower

When your shadow starts attacking passersby, are you a monster or prey?

Former special forces soldier Shen Ye makes a living in the gray zone of the city’s southern district using his ability to read minds. Then he discovers that several low-level ability users have been drained until they are left in vegetative states, and the same thing remains in each of their memories: shadow tentacles.

Forensic pathologist Jiang Ci can see the past through corpses. She confirms that the tentacles contain an artificially synthesized component. Taxi driver Tang Meng suddenly awakened three days ago. Uncontrollable black tentacles lurk in his shadow, but they work in reverse: they do not drain energy, they inject it. Fourteen-year-old hacker Bai Ya breaks into the Administration Bureau’s classified database and uncovers Project Tinder: the artificial creation of predators, using Transferred as containers for reclaiming their power.

The mastermind is Ji Wangshu, a former elite of the Administration Bureau who went rogue, code-named the Eclipsing Lord. He is using the entire city to conduct an experiment in the evolution of supernatural abilities.

Shen Ye and Tang Meng break into Ji Wangshu’s underground lair, only to find the walls plastered with photos of Tang Meng. Every red string points to him. Three months ago, the