The Pale Abyss

The story follows a seventeen-year-old high school boy who loves reading and is clever, yet dispirited. After both his parents die, he loses all motivation to live and sinks into a vortex of nihilism. As his new life begins, he grows increasingly world-weary and rebellious, pushing away friends and family and watching his grades fall. Unwilling to become a burden to his new guardian, he decides they should go their separate ways. Fortunately, with help from his classmate Zhou Xu, he manages to return to a more stable high school life. But the good times don't last. A document about the climate crisis sparks a media frenzy. Rumors of an imminent apocalypse spread, and despite repeated efforts to dispel them, the turmoil continues until the school orders classes suspended. Later, while home alone, Liu Yining obtains a mysterious dagger. Its game-like rule, “the person you kill can be brought back to life,” changes his fate forever.