The Dead Don't Sign

In the twenty-first year of the Republic, there was a woman in Shanghai who specialized in completing the identities of the dead, finding families for nameless corpses, and handling the final paperwork for people unwilling to claim a body.

Her name was Shen Yanqiu.

She had an old seal in her possession, engraved with the words "Verified."

Once stamped, a nameless corpse could be given a name, a missing person could be issued a death certificate, and a murder case that had seemed impossible to investigate might finally be closed.

She knew that this seal could save lives, but it could also kill.

Seven years ago, she had signed a living person off as dead in a corpse-claim register.

And that person might still be alive.