[Dual Timelines, Two Female Detectives Join Forces to Solve Cases]
In 1999, a murder and dismemberment are underway. Officer Lei Jianhong is attacked while on patrol. More than a decade later, it is revealed to be the beginning of a string of serial murders.
In 2026, following a deliberately staged explosion, the Changning Public Security Bureau launches a "Cold Case Initiative," reopening files on cases that have remained unsolved for years.
Wen Xingchu, a police officer at Qingshan Station who has just completed her probationary period, has her third application to join the bureau's cold case team rejected. At a major crossroads in her life, she returns to the station to rest after a late-night call and wakes up in 1999, face-to-face with Lei Jianhong, who died in the line of duty.
Wen Xingchu gains the chance to transmigrate through time. At certain points, she travels back to Lei Jianhong's timeline, an era lacking surveillance and still developing in every aspect of criminal investigation, when major and cold cases were frequent.
Wen Xingchu: "What if I told you we were full sisters, but had different mothers and fathers?"
Lei Jianhong takes three days to accept this visitor from another time, who calls herself a "Chaoyang neighborhood volunteer." She also invents one new identity after another for Wen Xingchu: a substitute teacher newly hired at a school where a murder took place, a laborer newly arrived at a construction site where someone disappeared, a security guard newly assigned to an apartment building where a murder took place, a cleaner newly hired at an office building where gold was stolen...
She can also effortlessly take on roles like a woman working at a slaughterhouse in a market, an internet cafe manager, an overseas-educated expert, a taxi driver, and a bank teller.
Wen Xingchu: "I'm a whole vanload of people all by myself!"
Wen Xingchu discovers that whenever she changes the course of a tragic case, she returns to the present. New clues emerge in one cold case after another: a fingerprint, a drop of blood, a diary, or a witness who survived. Old cases that had remained unresolved for years are finally cracked.
The officers on the Changning Bureau's special investigation team discover that all these clues are connected to a police officer who died in the line of duty: Lei Jianhong. It seems she is racing against time, leaving them the unsolved questions, but she will never see the final answers.
During yet another journey through time, Wen Xingchu thinks that this time she can surely change the outcome of Lei Jianhong's death. They can both survive.
On their final trip, Wen Xingchu and Lei Jianhong quietly wait for the time to return. They embrace and say goodbye: "See you in the future, Comrade Jianhong (Comrade Xingchu)."
*
Wen Xingchu thinks she is the only one who remembers all the time loops, until she goes for her monthly psychological evaluation at the center designated by the Changning Bureau and can't help complaining to her evaluator that she has barely slept in ages because of all the time loops! Being a time-traveling police officer with two jobs is exhausting!
Wen Xingchu quickly shuts up. "Sorry, I was just talking in my sleep. Don't take it seriously."
If the evaluator records what she just said, will the Changning Bureau think she's insane and fire her?
But after a long silence, the evaluator says two words: "...I understand."
Chu Huaiqing, son of the fallen hero Lei Jianhong and a specially appointed expert, has recently returned to China to take part in the Changning Public Security Bureau's cold case initiative, providing the cases that have piled up over the years with the latest technical support.
But Chu Huaiqing's mental state has grown increasingly strange lately. He has noticed that time keeps jumping back to a few days earlier! Sometimes he is studying a case one day, only to discover the next day that his own mother solved it years ago!
What on earth is going on? Could he be the one who's insane?
Then a police officer under close scrutiny by the Changning Bureau comes to the evaluation center and tells him, "Every time I come back from a trip through time, I have to start all over again. It's making me lose my mind... No, I mean, work's been stressful lately, so I'm talking in my sleep, handsome."
What they don't know is that they aren't the only ones who remember the changes caused by each repeated time loop.
The killer remembers, too.
Wen Xingchu becomes increasingly entangled in the case and ends up targeted by the never-before-seen serial killer. They finally confront each other face-to-face.
"Actually, I've always admired you," Wen Xingchu tells the killer. "Could I see your face? I should know who I lost to."
At last, the killer reveals their face.
Wen Xingchu looks at the killer and suddenly starts laughing. Come on, she has a cheat code!
Tick-tock, tick-tock...
The clock hand points to twelve, and Wen Xingchu vanishes into thin air, returning to the present.
Staring at the empty room, the killer finally understands the reason for the temporal distortions.
PS: As usual, the gender ratio is 9:1 in favor of women. The two female leads take the lead in solving cases, and women fill all the key roles in the police force and make major contributions. Let's just assume the men did plenty too, but the story couldn't cover everything in equal detail!
The story doesn't just feature the past and present. Wen Xingchu will also travel to some side timelines, where she might be a child star who shot to fame young, a mystery novelist, a game company employee, and so on, taking on survival-game missions.
There is a male lead, Chu Huaiqing. He handles support and logistics, and later travels with the female lead, taking care of the children (young Chu Huaiqing and young Wen Xingchu). He is a survivor of one of the cases, and the female lead protects him.
My own take on criminal investigation fiction, with fictional details and no real-life inspiration. Please don't compare it to real life.
Theme: Female police officers stand tall and shine brilliantly.
