Luo Jin will never forget the line of black writing on the white wall of the testing facility: “Test 1074, begin.” An outsider who grew up in Hancheng's orphanage, he has been able to “see the price” since childhood. Whenever he helps someone, an invisible number appears above that person's head, and every choice seems to tug at the threads of fate. Then, one rainy night, a corpse appears in the orphanage basement. The words “Level Failed” are carved into the dead person's palm. Luo Jin discovers that the entire city is an enormous testing ground, with human nature as the experimental subject. The mysterious villain known as the “Observer” delights in throwing ordinary people into extreme situations and measuring their limits for cruelty, kindness, betrayal, and sacrifice.
To find his missing younger sister, Luo Jin enters the Observer's “Twenty-Four-Hour Rule-Free Zone,” forced to team up with desperate strangers to clear its challenges. The more he uses his gift to glimpse the “price” others bear, the more he is forced to choose between betrayal and salvation. But he doesn't know that he himself is the core subject of Experiment 1074. His growth, anger, and fear are all part of the plan.
This is an awakening born of rage, an extreme backlash against fate. When Luo Jin breaks through the first layer of the testing ground, he discovers his sister's name on the “observers” list for the next experiment.
