In the summer of 2018, Shun'an Police Station began receiving anonymous death-warning letters. Each letter arrived on the very day its intended victim died, and the police had never managed to stop one in advance. All the victims lived in Duwei Apartments.
Newly arrived trainee detective Zhao Xunmeng was immediately drawn into this unsolvable string of deaths. He met private investigator Zhang Guanghe, who had been hired to look into the case. Meanwhile, his partner, Peng Biaozheng, ran into Xiao Youyi, the former lover who had been missing for two years, outside one of the victims' apartments.
During the investigation, a partly burned black candle came to light. It seemed to connect to a mysterious organization called the Duzel Cult, and to an indescribable entity known as “Baal.” Some predicted death, some carried it out with their own hands, some willingly went to their deaths, and some escaped death's grasp.
The walls of Duwei Apartments concealed the obsessions of countless dead souls. And everyone chosen by fate was doomed to become entangled with them.
When the fifth and sixth warning letters arrived one after the other, death was no longer just a prediction. It began spreading to those investigating the case. The closer Zhao Xunmeng and Zhang Guanghe came to the truth, the more they realized there was more than one enemy behind it all. And Xiao Youyi's return seemed to have a hidden connection to everything as well.
When the black candle is lit, the door will open. But what lies beyond it? Who is writing the letters? Who is killing people? And who will survive to the end?
The clock at Duwei Apartments has begun to chime. This time, any one of them could be the target of the death warning.
Theme: A story about how young people today face a painful past, emerge from its shadows, and find themselves.
