He was mad, because this world itself was a madhouse of cause and effect.
When Que Genxian was sent to an asylum by the Que family, everyone was convinced he had completely lost it. No one knew he was the one variable in the Que family's thousand-year game of chess to escape its rules. He could see the threads of cause and effect entwined around all living beings. Tug one, and the wicked would suffer the consequences of their own actions, while hypocrites would be exposed in public. But he couldn't see his own thread, because his older brother, Que Chen, had cut it himself.
Que Chen was a celebrated philanthropist and a perfect saint, as well as the person Que Genxian believed had murdered their mother. Three years ago, a great fire consumed their mother. Que Genxian escaped the asylum and dug up her grave. There were no ashes in the urn, only a USB drive and a photograph. On the back of the photo was written: Don't trust anyone, including me. The footage on the USB drive showed their mother in the fire, and Que Chen smiling behind the camera.
Que Genxian was determined to take revenge, but the deeper he investigated, the more the truth overturned everything he believed. The cause-and-effect hunters pursuing him were innocent people whose memories had been altered. The widespread campaign to smear him was, in fact, a protective shield his brother had laid down for him. This revenge plot had been scripted from the very beginning.
Que Chen was not the murderer, but a prisoner. Que Genxian was not a hunter, but the variable that would break the cycle. The true enemy had never been among humanity. It was a living Heavenly Dao that fed on the suffering of all beings. It had set up a thousand-year game of twins, forcing brothers across generations to kill one another so it could devour them and evolve.
The Heavenly Dao cut his thread of cause and effect.
But Que Genxian didn't need a thread.
He only needed to make sure every debt was repaid.
This novel is not bad