I Went Back in Time and Became My Own Mother

(Gender-Bender) + (Mystery with Mild Horror) + (Detective Fiction)

On November 30, 2033, Wen Zhigui, a proofreader at a publishing house, received a notice from a notary office telling him to claim a document.

It had been sealed in 2005. Back then, he had not even been born.

That night, a stranger posing as a gas company repairman entered his home. Wen Zhigui died in the bathroom. Just before losing consciousness, he heard an old-fashioned telephone ring. From deep within the crackling line came a woman's voice.

“Wen Zhigui, don't fall asleep.”

When he woke again, he had returned to Lanjiang twenty-eight years earlier, and his body was no longer his own.

In the mirror stood a young woman named Cen Wanning. She worked at Lanjiang People's Radio as a substitute editor for the late-night program Night Wanderers. Before Wen Zhigui could make sense of his situation, a phone call summoned him to take a shift at the station.

At 1:17 a.m., the long-disconnected hotline three suddenly rang.

When he answered, the woman on the other end told him:

“I'm already dead.”

From that day on, Wen Zhigui discovered that he could hear the voices the dead had left behind. Old tapes, unanswered calls, altered files, and murder cases forgotten for years gradually led him to the city's most secret corners.

During his investigation, he met Wen Shaoting, a young detective who had left the police force. One sought answers from the dead, while the other searched for evidence. From mutual suspicion to working together on cases, the two drew ever closer to the death that awaited them twenty-eight years later.

Who left behind the document from 2005?

Where did Cen Wanning go?

And who knew in advance that Wen Zhigui would return on that rainy night?

When the midnight phone rings again, the person who answers may find the truth, or become the next victim.