WELCOME!

Still in the midst of my Cyan Wings marathon, but I'm pretty close to the end. There are only a couple older stories I haven't read yet, and I'd like to reread Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know (魔尊也想知道). Cyan Wings' writing has a way of touching my heart and making me cry.

Currently reading The Heartthrob NPC in the VR Game (全息游戏里的万人迷NPC) by Su HuaiHuang (苏怀荒). A cannon fodder NPC became self-aware and is now testing the limit of what he could do within the game engine's perimeter to hopefully save himself from certain doom. It's quite interesting so far.

This novel has multiple layers. There is the main character's battle of wits against the game engine AI, the love interest's side of the story (he's the CEO of the game company and the game engine creator), the in-game main story about the conflict between gods and demons with lots of conspiracies flying around, the players' perspective both in and out of the game, the game development team's perspective, and the live streamer side. It sounds like there are perhaps too many moving pieces floating about, but the pieces fit quite well together. My favourite part is probably the scene where the scenario writer talks about how the MC's action can be interpreted in different ways since the players aren't privy to his inner thought. (The MC is a metaphorical fox in sheep's skin, or in the tradition of Chinese internet speaks, a green tea character.)

Completely unrelated, Yofukashi no Uta got a new OP and ED by Creepy Nuts. Both the OP song and the OP credit sequence are really cool. Love the flamenco vibe.

Might try out the sunshine_revival challenge when I have things to say.

Finished reading Cyan Wings' My Ideal Town (我的理想小镇[无限]), a Lovecraftian infinite flow novel, though it had nothing to do with the Cthulhu mytho. The summary for this one is a bit deceiving, and the author admitted that too in one of the author's notes. The romance plot is very touching. I forgot how many times I cried while reading this. Having a cute mascot really helps in a story like this; the little octopus plush is adorable. Will write a proper review for it later.