During the reign of Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, there was an undercurrent surging under the prosperity of Bianjing.
Strange beasts stalk the streets, and monsters breed in people's hearts.
Shen Wangyan, a criminal officer in the Ministry of Punishment's Special Investigation Bureau, is proficient in autopsy and prison sentences, but he is forced to specialize in "cases involving strange people"——
The river demon under the Hongqiao Bridge is actually a red cockroach domesticated by private salt dealers; behind the Buddhist monuments in Xiangguo Temple are hidden bugs that eat scriptures; the boat racing water monster in Jinming Pool is actually a killing machine created by the blood and tears of craftsmen...
Zhao Jinglan, the photographer of the Special Investigation Department, can paint the bones of monsters with one stroke, and can see into people's hearts with one glance.
She entered the game to investigate the mystery of her father and brother's death in battle, but gradually discovered:
All cases of strange beasts point to a "return to the ruins" that has been brewing for a hundred years.
From Bianjing Ghost Market to Cangzhou Salt Grottoes, from the northwest border to the secret realm of the East China Sea,
The order of Neo-Confucianism collides with the strange beasts of mountains and seas, and the historical truth and mythical conspiracy are intertwined.
The most terrifying thing in this world is never the alien beast, but the desire in human skin.
Purpose: to explore the depth of human ethics through the strange stories of the Song Dynasty; to use the strange beasts of the mountains and seas as a guide to ask about the foundation of the survival of civilization. The brilliance of civilization does not lie in the elimination of all heterogeneity and darkness, but in the fact that when mortals face unknown threats, they use reason, courage and sacrifice to protect the scale of humanity and the continuation of civilization between order and chaos.