By day, the bustling city is bathed in brilliant light, but shadows lurk in the cracks of ordinary people's lives.
Rookie criminal investigator Jiang Yao joins the major crimes unit despite the prejudice that she's just a "pretty face," where she meets the stern, uncompromising captain Chen Yu'an.
An elderly person living alone falls to their death in an old residential complex; a livestreaming influencer dies from overwork and is attacked online; a female worker in an urban village is burned alive; a food delivery rider causes a series of fatal accidents... Fifteen connected cases involving elder care, online traffic, low-wage workers, healthcare, public opinion, and reproductive ethics erupt one after another.
Care workers exploit emotional bonds, employers squeeze their staff, algorithms crush gig workers, and anonymous users commit verbal murder online. The killers hide among seemingly harmless ordinary people. Violence comes not only from sharp blades: psychological manipulation, capitalist plunder, and public-opinion trials are all invisible weapons of slaughter.
Jiang Yao's extraordinary memory and keen insight, combined with Chen Yu'an's steady, seasoned investigative reasoning and the support of their teammates, help expose the social ills behind every murder.
On the road to solving cases, suspicion turns to understanding, strictness gives way to tenderness, the stern captain makes an exception for her alone, and the well-behaved rookie lets her guard down only for him.
The cases are mirrors reflecting every facet of human life, and love gives them the courage to pass through the darkness.
Everyone is trapped by the shackles of the mundane world, but they carry justice in their hands and walk side by side along the border between light and shadow, protecting the world and waiting for dawn.
