I’m Just a Paper Effigy Maker. Is It Really That Strange for My Paper Dolls to Help Solve Cases?

[Folklore mystery + paper effigy craft + criminal investigations + funny and lighthearted + thrilling mystery]

Jiang Zhao is the last paper effigy maker in Nancheng's old quarter.

His family's inherited craft is simple: paper horses can run, paper cranes can find people, and paper brides can help ghosts seek justice.

Then one night, a murder takes place on the outskirts of the city.

Surveillance footage shows a paper figure in a red wedding dress walking away from the crime scene under an umbrella, carrying the murder weapon.

The police follow the clues straight to Jiang Zhao's shop and pin him down while he's drawing eyebrows on a paper figure.

Criminal investigation team captain Shen Qingli sneers, “Anything you want to explain?”

Jiang Zhao protests, “Officer, I admit I made the paper figure, but it went out to work overtime on its own. What does that have to do with me, the boss?”

Everyone thinks he's talking nonsense.

Until the interrogation room loses power, and the paper bride knocks three times on the glass and slips in a note written in blood.

It says: He's not the killer.

Shen Qingli stares at the four characters on the wall, “Believe in science,” and falls into deep thought.

From then on, Nancheng's criminal investigation team gains a special consultant.

A paper horse whinnies in a haunted house in the middle of the night. A paper crane leads the way to a missing child. A paper mask backstage at a theater opens its mouth to sing of injustice. A paper lantern bearing a birth date and hour floats up from an ancient well.

Others solve cases with surveillance footage.

Jiang Zhao solves them by burning paper offerings.

Jiang Zhao: “Captain Shen, this is superstition.”

Shen Qingli: “Less talk. Hurry up and show me some superstition.”