Beasts of the Broken World

The story follows modern capitalist Ezra Stern as he launches a time-travel experiment, intending to purchase an Assassins of Alamut to instill fear, but unexpectedly becomes entangled with Lu Xuan Zhou, a Taoist priest from the late Qing dynasty, and the “Hanba”—a mythical beast from the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*. After subduing the “Hanba” and naming it “Xiao Ba,” Lu Xuan Zhou flees into the modern era, only to be hunted down by the Twelve Assassins. As the pursuit unfolds, the assassin Karen gradually realizes that so-called “righteous judgment” is nothing more than a murder-for-hire business bought with capital.