The Rift in Reality

In 2035, in the industrial city of Tiehe, ordinary deliveryman Lin Mo is accidentally drawn into a mystery beyond all reason. He notices tiny anomalies in the digital identity System, while his elderly aunt Chi Ying keeps slipping out of sync between reality and dreams. Technology researcher Xia Yi and government data officer Li Lan join the investigation, and together they discover that it all stems from a bizarre phenomenon known as "the Double": records of reality contradict the experiences of the people involved in ways that cannot be reconciled. As Double incidents become more frequent, the boundaries of law and common sense grow increasingly blurred, and people begin to wonder whether they are still in the same world. Lin Mo and the others struggle onward along several intersecting storylines: some try to unravel the mystery of the Double, some are driven by the truth to lose their loved ones, and some have no choice but to find a way to keep living amid an uncertain reality. Brief, tightly paced chapters weave in metaphor and philosophical reflection, recounting the exploration and struggle of an ideal-state civilization as it pushes against the boundaries of its own understanding after reaching a high degree of maturity.