I thought the National Defense University selection exam was just a shortcut to graduate early and secure a government post.

Eight years later, I became the second-in-command of the largest criminal organization in the Northwest.

On the night the chairman was assassinated, four candidate names appeared on the conference room projector.

My photo was among them.

At 3 a.m., I dialed an emergency contact number I hadn’t touched in eight years: “Mission codename: ‘Abyss.’ Request immediate wrap-up.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line: “Reason?”

I growled into the receiver, “If you don’t wrap this up now, I’ll have to be their boss next month.”

One after another, horrific and strange cases.

One after another, tortuous and bizarre tales.

Is it witchcraft, the supernatural, or pseudoscience?

Life and death, good or evil, they sometimes hinge on a single thought.

While the case may eventually be cracked,

how thoroughly can we understand the human heart?

In 2017, a mining disaster tore apart families. Four years later, everyone connected to the disaster is linked by a serial killer known as the "Survivor's Gamble." Among them are detectives, journalists, wealthy second-generations, nurses, students, and delinquent teenagers... Rookie detective Peng Chuyan, inheriting his father's police rank, single-handedly faces a series of social crises: cyberbullying, school violence, domestic violence, Chinese-style parenting, workplace pressures, cheap rumor-mongering, apathetic spectators, animal cruelty, and unscrupulous media influence. Peng Chuyan's story unfolds in our daily lives, touching us all.