The Returners

Shen Du, a 28-year-old criminal police officer, is taken away by a being calling itself the 'System' while investigating a serial murder case, promised the ability to solve any case. But after three years of 'training' in another world, he returns home after great hardship to find that his identity has been replaced by another 'Shen Du'—a better detective, a more filial son, and everyone prefers him. The same fate befalls Jiang Wan, a violinist lured by the System with 'no longer having to face anyone'; Lu Ming, a computer genius lured with a 'brand new identity'; and Su Xiaoman, a poor high school student lured with 200,000 yuan. They are forced to have their talents, emotions, and life force drained in another world, only to return home and find themselves fully replaced by 'better versions' of themselves. When the four forgotten 'originals' finally meet, they uncover a darker truth: the System is a cross-dimensional human trafficking organization, and the so-called 'new life' is merely a transaction packaging living people for sale to higher-dimensional beings. With 300,000 words, four returners, and a question: 'When you can be perfectly replaced, do you still exist?' — Description from novelcodex.org