The Net Weaver (Complete in Three Volumes)

徐永健Chongqing Publishing House · ChinaNov 2025

Rating 3.1
Word count
399K words
Chapters
97
ISBN
9787229194536

Tags

Mystery and Suspense Suspense ThrillerSocial ObservationWorkplace RelationsRisk ControlUrban RomancePsychological InsightCriminal PsychologyBehavioral Analysis

Summary

At the annual "1024 Programmers' Conference," tens of thousands of programmers from across the country hold a team-building event around Dai Lake when a mysterious doggerel appears in the official livestream comments, repeating every 913 seconds.

Just then, the head of the event organizer, NetBear Technology, spots a woman's body on the shore. Following clues in the doggerel, police discover three victims in succession and eventually identify a suspect.

But the suspect suddenly leaves a long letter exposing the sins of the internet and sets himself on fire—and he is the suspect in an arson case from eight years earlier, whose parents, the first in the family to work in the internet industry, were poisoned to death five years ago on New Year's Eve. Three cases interweave, and the truth grows ever murkier...

The Web Weaver: The 1024 Mystery tells a little-known story of crime in the internet industry with breakneck pacing and meticulous deduction, and it also offers ordinary readers insight and guidance on understanding impulsive crimes.

Editor's review

The Web Weaver is a realist novel by Xu Yongjian, published in three volumes, set in southwestern China and refracting more than four decades of social change through the fortunes of an ordinary family. Xu Yongjian is a Chongqing-based author known for solid fieldwork and delicate prose, and this book is no exception. "Weaving" serves as metaphor: it denotes the traditional handicraft the protagonist lives by, and also symbolizes the characters' struggle and resilience as they try to weave nets of livelihood, relationships, and fate amid the currents of their era.

In literary terms, the book pursues depth of character and texture of era rather than plot fireworks. The author excels at depicting local scenery and everyday street life, immersing readers in a specific time and place. The story spans a wide stretch of time and touches on layoffs, urbanization, and the rise of the internet, yet its narrative focus stays on ordinary people's daily choices and emotional entanglements, avoiding the emptiness of grand narrative. This "small reveals large" approach makes historical change more than a backdrop—it is internalized in the characters' joys and sorrows.

As an editor, I see the book's value in its immersive historical experience and deep humanistic care. It offers no easy answers or emotional catharsis, but leads readers to observe the many facets of human nature under complex circumstances—perseverance and compromise, warmth and calculation. For readers who want to understand through literature the social fabric and inner lives of ordinary Chinese people over recent decades, this is a substantial and weighty work. Its pace is steady, and readers must settle in to appreciate the lingering satisfaction of its dense detail and accumulated feeling.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read in order and follow the timeline to feel characters and era evolve together.
  2. Pay attention to the many ways the core metaphor of "weaving" appears in plot and relationships.
  3. Pause after each part to consider the era and personal factors behind the characters' choices.

About the publisher

Chongqing Publishing House China · Founded in 1950

Chongqing Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for its titles in the humanities, social sciences, literature and arts, with about 940 books in its catalogue. Its publishing areas cover world history, science fiction, foreign literature, architecture and philosophy. Representative titles include Xiang Da's A History of Communications Between China and the West, Liang Sicheng's Rules of Qing-Style Construction, Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem II: The Dark Forest and III: Death's End, Ann Rand's The Fountainhead (25th Anniversary Edition), and Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series. Its authors include Xiang Da, Liu Cixin, Liang Sicheng and Ann Rand. The press has developed distinctive strengths in historical source editing, the introduction and creation of science fiction, the translation of foreign literature, and architecture and philosophy titles, balancing scholarly value with general readership. As public information is limited, this profile outlines its publishing directions based only on the books in the catalogue.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 织网人：畸零者之罪
  3. 第一章 你是凶手
  4. 一、独峰山惨案
  5. 二、畸零者
  6. 三、房客
  7. 四、偷窥
  8. 五、丑陋的织网人
  9. 六、箭靶
  10. 七、陪酒
  11. 八、桂男
  12. 九、畸恋虐缘
  13. 十、化身博士
  14. 第二章 我是凶手
  15. 一、三起血案
  16. 二、两张面具
  17. 三、0和1
  18. 四、富贵命
  19. 五、程序员文化
  20. 六、黑色生命力
  21. 七、错误的爱情
  22. 八、透支
  23. 九、披心相付
  24. 十、打醒老夫子
  25. 十一、武大郎
  26. 十二、天意如此
  27. 十三、破庙
  28. 第三章 谁是凶手
  29. 一、他是谁
  30. 二、无法收尸
  31. 三、首善老人
  32. 四、吾自明
  33. 五、浪漫至死
  34. 六、自首
  35. 七、认罪
  36. 八、活着
  37. 九、最后的真相
  38. 后记
  39. 织网人：1024之谜
  40. 第一章 裸体女尸
  41. 第二章 恐怖打油诗
  42. 第三章 死亡判决书
  43. 第四章 还会有人遇害
  44. 第五章 诗词研究
  45. 第六章 913的秘密
  46. 第七章 启动应急预案
  47. 第八章 第一嫌疑人
  48. 第九章 缜密的推理
  49. 第十章 利益动机
  50. 第十一章 感情动机
  51. 第十二章 玩忽职守
  52. 第十三章 大老板
  53. 第十四章 合并线索
  54. 第十五章 有罪推论
  55. 第十六章 互联网评论家
  56. 第十七章 反杀
  57. 第十八章 绝笔信
  58. 第十九章 破案了
  59. 第二十章 搅局者
  60. 第二十一章 主菜和配菜
  61. 第二十二章 小物件
  62. 第二十三章 自作聪明
  63. 第二十四章 爱情故事
  64. 第二十五章 那就这样吧
  65. 第二十六章 梦中窥人
  66. 后记
  67. 织网人 : 一个中年互联网人之死
  68. 上部
  69. 01 似虚如真
  70. 02 一语成谶
  71. 03 阴阳相隔
  72. 04 女性视角
  73. 05 男性视角
  74. 06 案发当晚
  75. 07 公司善后
  76. 08 触景伤情
  77. 09 遗产风波
  78. 10 隐瞒真相
  79. 11 放弃较真
  80. 12 不谋而合
  81. 13 两处闲愁
  82. 14 父爱如山
  83. 下部
  84. 15 七年
  85. 16 探案
  86. 17 老友
  87. 18 巴掌
  88. 19 流浪
  89. 20 寻人
  90. 21 埋怨
  91. 22 忌日
  92. 23 正义
  93. 24 幻灭
  94. 25 莽夫
  95. 26 槽点
  96. 27 牺牲
  97. 28 对决

FAQ

Is this fiction or documentary writing? It is a fictional novel, but the author created it based on in-depth field research and observation of the era. The characters and story carry a high degree of realism and typicality, vividly reflecting the social landscape of a particular historical period.
Do the three volumes form one continuous story? Yes. The three volumes are a complete trilogy of one story, centered on a core family and its members, with a continuous timeline. Reading in publication order is recommended for the full narrative experience.
Is the novel's tone heavy? The novel touches on the pains of social transition and personal hardship, and its tone is generally steady, realistic, and reflective, but it also runs through with ordinary people's resilience and warmth between people—not unrelieved gloom.

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About the author

徐永健 Author

Xu Yongjian is a Chinese author of mystery, crime fiction and science fiction. Publicly available information about him is currently limited, and his dates of birth and death, nationality and educational background are not clearly documented. Four of his works are included in the library, all belonging to the "Web Weaver" series: Web Weaver: The 1024 Mystery, Web Weaver: The Sin of the Misfits, Web Weaver: The Death of a Middle-Aged Internet Worker, and Web Weaver (three-volume set). Judging from the titles and categories, the series is set against the internet industry, interweaving programmer culture and workplace survival with criminal puzzles, combining the layered puzzle-solving of mystery fiction with the technological imagination of science fiction. The works often revolve around the circumstances and fate of middle-aged internet workers, focusing on the anxiety of individuals caught up in systems in the digital age, and revealing observations of real-world conditions through genre storytelling. With steady output across the series, Xu Yongjian has developed a recognizable presence in Chinese online mystery and tech-themed writing, and his work deserves continued attention.