Afterword.
The main story has concluded.
There will be additional side stories to follow.
I could write a hundred thousand words of side stories.
These side stories will likely return to the silly and joyful daily life on campus, and fill in some remaining plot holes, such as the Go event, Xuan Ying's birthday event, and others that weren't fully resolved.
(Actually, saying it's 'finished' isn't entirely accurate. You can understand it as the conclusion of another volume. However, due to certain reasons, this book had to be wrapped up (primarily due to low revenue). I heard there are recommendations after completion, so Su Cheng and I reached a consensus to adopt an extreme and misunderstood approach.)
To the friends who followed along chapter by chapter until now, you've worked hard; to the new readers who binge-read to this point, you've also worked hard.
This work was born from ideas I had after watching many youth-themed stories in recent years. Thoughts like, what would it be like if the heroine from work A competed against the heroine from work B? If they had a contest, who would have the last laugh?
Thus, under various circumstances, this text came to be. When initially designing the story, influenced by the last work I had watched, the plot leaned towards a farcical style. But as the story developed further and the characters' images and interactions gradually evolved, my own thinking began to shift. Ideas like "this character would absolutely do this in this situation" became more and more frequent.
(To put it bluntly, it felt like the characters 'came alive,' and my limited skills couldn't quite keep them in check.)
This book started on August 20th, 2022, and today is August 1st, 2024—nearly two years of writing.
(The reason it took so long is purely because I frequently took breaks.)
It's now close to 2.5 million words. This is the first time I've written a work of this length, and to be honest, I simply couldn't manage a story this long on my own.
Being able to write this much is inseparable from the support of all you readers, especially 'Landlord's Cat 12', 'Fan Ruoruo Ming', 'I Am Taotao', 'Master of Giving Up for Free', 'Deng Buyi', 'A Little White Dust (Pure Milk)', 'Xue Yihe', 'Ye Xiao from the Ancient Mists', 'See No, Hear No, Speak No', 'The Self-Tormenting Single Dog', 'Flying Cherry Blossoms Like Rosy Clouds', 'Zhou Tong from the South Snow Archipelago', 'Electric Massage', 'Shibuya Rin s', 'Traces Pass'...
There are too many to list, I can't thank everyone enough.
Writing this, I realize there doesn't seem to be much else to say. So, I've decided to kowtow to all the readers who have made it this far. Without you, I could never have written this much.
Now, let's get back on topic.
Please, close the book here.
There will be opportunities later for you to open the cover again.
Please allow me to lay down my pen for now.
(Actually, I just want to rest for a bit before updating the side stories.)
(While updating the side stories, I'll also be brainstorming a new book.)
(The new book will still be published here.)
— Anime is the best.
It actually requires a thousand characters to publish this, meaning I still need to pad about two hundred more words to successfully post this concluding note. Let me think, what else do I have to say...
………………
After the Afterword—
Darkness before the eyes. Silence in the ears. No scent to the nose. No sensation on the skin.
Is this what the end of the world looks like?
Is this the afterlife?
If so.
Then surely, I am already in hell.
Otherwise, why would I be deprived of all five senses, left only with the torment of consciousness? Though I don't understand what sin I committed, I'm not surprised by this outcome. Perhaps, unbeknownst to me, my heart had already prepared for it long ago.
Even so.
Even so.
A feeling seems to linger deep within.
Someone is calling for me.
Who?
Calling for what?
"Time to wake up."
Wake up? Wake up where? To do what?
"Waking up means a new day."
"Someone is waiting for you."
Who is it?
Is it...
"Pop!" A sound was heard, a crack was seen, and light streamed in.
What lies beyond the crack?
"It's hope."
"A new day, a new hope."
The cracks multiplied, the light grew stronger, and in an instant, it flooded all perception.
"Su Cheng!"
Different locations, the same name.
Gu Ruoxue, Ji Qingyi, Li Guanqi, Liu Qingyue—though lying in different places, they assumed the same posture. As if by prior agreement, they reached out a hand, trying to grasp something.
"Is this... Su Cheng's home!?"
"We're back..."
"But the rings are gone!"
The girls quickly grasped the current situation and the change, and unanimously made the same choice.
They rushed out of their rooms.
In the living room, near the kitchen.
A familiar aroma and the clatter of bowls and plates reached their senses.
Then, a familiar figure, one they thought they had lost, walked out.
"Good morning. A new day, a new hope."
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
