The quill could not be used recklessly, so Chen Miemie began his days inside the storybook.
The world of stories was a wondrous place, where time and space behaved in strange ways.
Take time, for example. Whenever Chen Miemie slept, the story would simply gloss over that period. To Chen Miemie, it was the same: one moment it was nighttime and he had just fallen asleep; the next, it was already noon, and he had gotten up and gone out.
As for space, Chen Miemie could not wander freely around the Book-Sealing Hall. Or, more accurately, it was not that he could not—the places not described in the story simply did not exist.
His map was incomplete. For instance, if Chen Miemie wanted to visit the home where the Logic Pledgor, Luo Lang, had imprisoned Luo Wen, that place did not exist in the storybook world because the original story had never described it.
And so Chen Miemie watched himself go out time and again, welcoming one customer after another.
To protect his precious quill, Chen Miemie generally avoided interfering with the story’s development. But sometimes, he simply could not help himself.
Like now.
No. 50 Nuan Yu Road.
This was the first time Chen Miemie had come to the Yi family villa to search for clues.
Chen Miemie brought a large group of oddities into the house. They searched high and low, turning everything upside down, but after a long while they still had not found a single clue.
[Chen Miemie] watched anxiously.
“This bunch of idiots. Not one of them is capable of putting my mind at ease. I’ll have to do it myself.”
On the second floor, in the bedroom, he pushed a notebook up from deep beneath the bed until a small corner showed.
In the kitchen on the first floor, he lifted the lid of an ordinary-looking glass jar just enough for the lingering scent of honey to escape.
Near the ceiling, on a curtain rod, he nudged a small wooden wand so that part of it became visible.
The oddities had not been making much progress with their search, but now they suddenly found their second wind and began making discoveries.
“Miemie, we found a little notebook in the master bedroom upstairs!” Qinghua called as she came downstairs.
“I found a peculiar glass jar deep inside the cupboard!” Bobo shouted as well.
“There’s a tiny wooden stick on one of the curtain rods,” Red appeared soundlessly by the ceiling above the stairs.
Chen Miemie was very pleased with the results. With a grand wave of his hand, he said, “Pack everything up and bring it back. We’ll study it at our leisure.”
[Chen Miemie] paid them no further attention. He was carefully inspecting his precious quill. When he saw that its glow had not dimmed by much, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
The story continued moving forward.
Some time later, Chunhua came to the shop for the last time.
Watching the man who knew nothing of the witch Chameleon’s true ending rise to see him off, [Chen Miemie] sighed softly. “As the shopkeeper, you ought to know the truth.”
[Chen Miemie] went into the bedroom and nudged the watch beside the pillow until it fell onto the floor with a faint click.
“Hm?” Hearing the noise, Chen Miemie frowned slightly. “Chunhua, wait a moment. I’ll go see what happened.”
Chen Miemie rose from the sofa and walked out. As he turned around, [Chen Miemie] used the tip of the feather to gently hook a five-colored postage stamp from his pocket.
The stamp spun through the air. Each time it was about to fall, the feather lightly caught it and lifted it again. At last, it drifted into a fold of Chunhua’s clothing.
The entire process was silent and unnoticed by both Chen Miemie and Chunhua.
Chen Miemie returned from the bedroom.
“Shopkeeper, what happened?” Chunhua asked.
“Nothing. A small object wasn’t placed securely and fell onto the floor.”
“Very well. Then I’ll be taking my leave.”
[Chen Miemie] followed Chunhua out of the shop. He watched the man weep silently, watched him lie on the ground and finish writing his letter, leaving the signature blank. At last, he watched Chunhua place the letter, together with the postage stamp, into the Radiant-Lights Mailbox.
As Chunhua walked away from the Door’s Gap with faltering steps, [Chen Miemie] let out a silent sigh as well.
Day after day, the sun and moon revolved. Again and again, people’s fates intertwined. At last, the story arrived at its final chapter.
That day was the night of the Eternal Moon.
Chen Miemie sat in the shop, racking his brains over how to bring a stone from the body of the Eternal Moon into the world barrier.
A new customer arrived.
“Where is this?” Persimmon asked.
Loop smiled faintly. “A mysterious shop that accepts all kinds of commissions. Please, come in.”
Persimmon was quite different from the customers who had come before. She was intensely curious and completely unafraid. In fact, she stretched out her neck and tilted her head, trying to peer beneath the hood of [Huangyi].
She was studying Chen Miemie, and [Chen Miemie] was studying her.
[Chen Miemie] examined her face to face, leaving no angle unchecked.
From a certain angle, [Chen Miemie] finally saw that beneath the long bangs covering Persimmon’s left eye was a pitch-black hollow. She had already lost her left eye.
Chen Miemie and Persimmon talked.
Chen Miemie could not fulfill Persimmon’s wish for immortality. Persimmon therefore turned the tables and began using her own power to help Chen Miemie solve his problem.
Persimmon gave him a clear method. “Write your own story into a book. In the book, you take the things you obtained from beyond the barrier. Then, outside the book, you will have a chance of obtaining those things as well.”
Chen Miemie asked, “Then how do I begin my story?”
Persimmon glanced toward the study. “I need a book.”
“What requirements does the book need to meet?”
“The closer your relationship with it, the better.”
Chen Miemie thought for a moment, then waved his hand. “Jinse” and “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences” floated out of the study.
Compared to “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences,” “Jinse” was slightly farther behind. Originally, “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences” should have arrived first.
[Chen Miemie] was not pleased with this. “Granny Qiu clearly wrote ‘Jinse.’ What are you butting in for, ‘Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences’?”
He extended his quill and blocked the flight path of “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences.”
Because of his interference, “Jinse” overtook it despite setting off later and arrived in front of Persimmon first.
Next, with Chen Miemie’s help, Persimmon completed the transformation into her very own storybook.
Chen Miemie saw Persimmon out and returned to the shop. He opened the book, but the moment he turned to the first page, he fell asleep in an instant. The oddities gathered around him.
At that very moment, the entire story world seemed to freeze in place. Its colors faded, the hands of every clock stopped moving, and every person and oddity became utterly motionless.
“The Second City, the Book-Sealing Hall” had reached its conclusion. The pages turned to a brand-new blank sheet.
The only one who could still move was [Chen Miemie].
“What’s going on? Is this what it looks like when a story reaches its ending? What am I supposed to do next?”
His confusion did not last long.
The quill in his pocket floated out on its own and hovered above the blank page of “The Second City, the Book-Sealing Hall.” Its shaft even swayed toward [Chen Miemie], as though inviting him to pick it up.
[Chen Miemie] smiled. “I see. With the quill in my hand, I’m the one who gets to continue writing the story.”
[Chen Miemie] took hold of the quill and began to write:
“After Chen Miemie fell asleep on the night of the Eternal Moon, he returned to the body of the Eternal Moon.
“The Eternal Moon selected a stone from its own body and sent it toward the Hundred Cities World.
“At the edge of the dimension, the stone encountered the obstruction of the world barrier.”
As [Chen Miemie] wrote, the space around him suddenly transformed.
[Chen Miemie], quill in hand, appeared in an endless void.
Before him, a massive yellow stone hung suspended in the void.
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
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...
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
