Early in the late autumn morning, the bodies of eight boys and girls floated in the Fen River in Hedong Road.
They have different ages, different family backgrounds, and their addresses are scattered across the city. It seems that they have never crossed paths in their lives. What's even more unusual is that after eight children disappeared, not a single family called the police.
Public opinion surged across the country, and Shen Yanchuan, a well-known criminal investigation expert, was ordered to lead an investigation. From a blue wristband, a shoe that does not belong to the eight deceased people, to a "treasure map" that only an aphasic boy can understand, all the broken clues ultimately point to Mingli Academy, a behavior modification school highly respected by parents.
There hangs a school motto:
"Let children be polite and parents can feel at ease."
But behind closed iron doors, education is written as obedience, care becomes punishment, and every time a child asks for help is interpreted by adults as lying, rebellion, and ingratitude.
As the dead, missing and forgotten teenagers regained their names, Shen Yanchuan finally understood: what they desperately escaped was never just a school, but a web woven by fear, silence and "for your own good".
The day after the truth was revealed, his hair turned gray overnight.
But is the truth brought back by the river really enough to wake up the city?
