Ning Jingshu never imagined she would go from the defense table to the seat of the accused.
The blood from the Chen Jianguo family massacre had barely dried when a kitchen knife identical to hers pinned her to the cross as the killer. Qi Guanlan, deputy captain of the criminal investigation squad, personally handcuffed her and led her into the interrogation room. Yet behind her gold-rimmed glasses, he saw pale blue eyes as lonely and isolated as his own.
The massacre was only the beginning. Betrayal by an old classmate, classified files on an undercover anti-drug operation, a ghost lurking within the police force... A string of murders closes around Ning Jingshu like a carefully woven net. To prove her innocence, she has no choice but to stand with Qi Guanlan, from confrontations in the interrogation room to chasing a killer through the rain, from mutual suspicion to trusting each other with their lives.
They grow closer in the gaps between lies and truth, finding warmth beneath the shadows of blades and gun barrels. Qi Guanlan believes that once everything is over, he will finally be able to hold the hands that always turn the tide in court.
But the conspiracy runs deeper than justice.
When the final mystery is uncovered before dawn and every crime is about to be judged, the woman who always felt like a warm sun on winter nights falls just one second before the truth comes to light.
It turns out Ning Jingshu was the pawn destined for sacrifice in this game from the very beginning.
"Officer Qi, if I'm not the killer, but someone wants to make me one, then that person must know me very well."
"Well enough to... have to kill you."
