The World’s Gone Wrong, So I’m Running All Over the Classic of Mountains and Seas to Fix It

The normal human body temperature is 37 degrees.

Shen Zhao is an appliance repairman, and his temperature is always just 35.9 degrees.

That missing degree comes from a strange stone buried deep in his chest.

When his grandfather passed away, he left him three things: an old ledger of recorded temperatures, a copper-cased thermometer that only ever points north, and a chilling last warning: Don’t trust anyone, including me.

The sky over the northern frontier has cracked. The world is leaking air, and the laws of existence are steadily disappearing through the fissures. A man named Feng Yue comes to see him. In a calm voice, he proposes the most outrageous bargain:

“Lend me your heart, and I’ll give the world back its life.”

No written contract. No compensation.

After ten years repairing refrigerators, Shen Zhao has seen machines pieced together from spare parts. But he has never seen a living person treated as expendable material to mend the sky.

Shen Zhao’s body temperature keeps slowly falling, day after day.

Fate may decide the temperature of his body, but whether he laughs or not is up to him.

To all who pause here, we are grateful for your kindred company. May good fortune be with you.