The Eighteenth Corpse

Gu Lanming fears two things more than anything: corpses and Shi Jiran.

The former sit up in front of her to say hello. The latter can peel the skin off a corpse without batting an eye, then complain that she's as timid as a fragile work of art.

As the captain in charge of a series of murder cases involving the living dead, Gu Lanming's career has hit rock bottom. The killer's technology and drugs have the police completely outmatched, and the terrifying sight of victims dying and then moving again haunts her endlessly.

Shi Jiran, an amnesiac witness, is the queen of Shihua Group's future technology division, as well as the "security consultant" forced to stay by Gu Lanming's side around the clock. Shi Jiran can crack the killer's digital labyrinth and find where the bodies are hidden, but she can't piece together the fragments of her own memories about the killer.

A righteous police officer who throws up at the sight of a corpse.

An icy CEO who sees corpses as data to be processed.

They clash in the chill of the morgue and work together beneath the cold glow of data streams. Gu Lanming's faith in protecting life collides with Shi Jiran's relentless pursuit of answers, sparking a dangerous attraction.

The killer is weaving an even larger web in the shadows, and the list of victims keeps growing.

Is the ghost known as "Number Eighteen" the key to breaking the case, or an even deeper trap?

When fear becomes a weakness and reason confronts the unknown, can they find a way to survive under the gaze of death?

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[Reading Guide]

Mystery and horror, formidable partners, compelling contrasting personalities

A jumpy but resilient policewoman x a highly intelligent, emotionally distant CEO

The living-dead premise runs throughout, against a backdrop of tech-enabled crime.

Theme: The world has never been fair. If you stand still, what awaits you is even greater injustice.