Concept Reproduction

If even your own name may be a file buried by others - do you still dare to be sure who you are? Chen Xu is a newcomer to the archives department of Zhengmingyuan. His job is very simple: seal dead concepts into archives, register them, file them, and forget them. The rules of this world are very cold: if a concept is thought about too much and feared too deeply, it will divide and reproduce, giving birth to out-of-control cubs, waiting to be hunted and sealed. For three months, Chen Xu had dealt with moldy corners, unspeakable lies, and lingering fears—until the warehouse was stolen, and a file numbered 0731 stood up on its own and walked out of the cabinet. The next day, an unnumbered file appeared on his desk, with only one sentence: This file itself is a person's concept. Number: 0731. He went to the place that even official maps dared not mark - the Quiet Place, and found his predecessor who had been missing for nine years. The answer he got was heavier than he was prepared to bear: he was not the first Chen Xu, and he would not be the last. Returning to the Zhengmingyuan with this truth, what awaits him is not relief, but a deeper examination - an interrogation in the name of the death of a senior, a pair of eyes that understand him far better than he understands himself, and the seemingly lazy senior sister who sleeps on the table all day long, who seems to be hiding secrets that even she herself dare not think about. Everyone who knows the truth is carrying something for him. And he still doesn't know how much he owes.