Mara's novel review blog/archive. main @arytha [Icon ID: Official art of Nelo from Ciel Nosurge. Header ID: Official art of Nemo and Oliver from Stray, reaching towards each other. End ID]
Idk if anyone will be looking at this blog besides me and my mutuals but hello! This blog is to archive novel summaries/reviews to help myself remember what happens in the copious amounts of novels I read. So I can recommend novels to my friends with more confidence that I'm not forgetting anything!
Reviews will state: Novel name, Author name, chapters, genre type, potential trigger warnings, and Might have an arc summary below a readmore for my general use. Arc summaries may have spoilers. Thanks!
We're back again! With another Nian Zhong novel~ This reread took me a while because I keep getting distracted. But this novel specifically really holds a lot of worldbuilding that is quite in line with my preferences, and Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo as the main characters are absolutely perfect. The world's strongest aetheist with the world's largest concentration of evil qi in one person. Beautiful.
Waking up from an extremely long nap, our Ghost King-Yin Ren has broken the seal that's bound him for a thousand years! And after watching the news channel for a 40 days, he's confident he can integrate himself into modern society. Holding the knife he brought out of the seal, and wearing some patient clothes he stole from the nearby psychiatric hospital, he confidently takes to the streets! As for who he is and where he's been, this ghost king will just say he has amnesia.
...Yin Ren is immediately caught by a passerby. Zhong "Passerby" Chengshuo, seeing a lone young man with amnesia in a patient's gown, and carrying a knife, calls the police.
With all the Evil Qi brewing in the area, and what seems to be the escape of a new Evil Spirit, the metaphysical portion of Haigu is in turmoil. Where did the evil spirit go? Why wasn't it answering to their summoning techniques? Everything happening that night related to the supernatural is suspicious, and Shian, a government-sanctioned organization that deals with the supernatural, decides to keep an eye on Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo.
Yin Ren is happy about this! He'll mooch off of Shian's funds and their cafeteria. His lazy life in the modern era begins! Both he and Zhong Chengshuo become the newest members of Shian, eventually forming Unit 9 with the the addition of a rear commander and later two others.
As Unit 9 takes on cases, they start to realize that 1) They seem to be a magnet for trouble, and 2) Something big seems to be brewing underneath the surface of minor incidents. Something that involves both Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo's pasts.
Another story that starts out relatively small, and ends up completely changing your view of this world Nian Zhong has created by the end! The main parts of the way this novel is set up, especially towards the end, is incredibly compelling and I can't say much about it because its better off that you don't know about it when beginning to read. This actually seems to be a running theme with my reviews of these novels.... But the buildup is super worth it and pays off really well! The way Nian Zhong crafts these novels gives the reader an incredible sense of accomplishment as you're able to apply all new knowledge to cases they handled before. Nothing is irrelevant. Every case they handle builds up both Yin Ren and the reader's knowledge of What Is Going On.
Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo's identities are also a part of this! There is a mystery surrounding them both, and the details are revealed slowly, and neither of them falter as their understanding (and love) of each other grows. I also really enjoy the way they navigate their feelings considering their identities as well. There were multiple times where I cried over things that happen in the story... The angst is good and their reunions are So Good.
I also absolutely love the side characters in this novel! From the Shian ministers Fu and Li, to the people Unit 9 picks up to be a part of the team, they all have really good character arcs and interesting personalities. And no one was neglected! Even the two minor characters who take the Shian initiation test with Yin Ren in the beginning have multiple appearances (and are also mentioned in the extras!) and don't really feel left out. Its incredible how much care was put into everyone.
How was the translation? Great! Once again Kinky does an incredible job. Some typos, but nothing jarring.
Would I recommend this novel? Yes!!!
Would I reread this novel? Yes!!!! The primordial elementals part alone is something that is a huge inspiration for me when thinking about my own OCs (as they're close to one of my own entities), and the intricacy of this novel's foreshadowing + narrative is also super inspiring. Whenever I'm in a creative slump I need to reread this....
Trigger Warnings: Genre standard ghost/corpse imagery (Body, eye, etc horror), Gore, Self harm, Cannibalism (+autocannibalism), Suicide, Torture, Animal death, Domestic violence, Violent mysogyny, Rape (mentioned), Infanticide, Human sacrifice, Bullying, School violence, Human trafficking, Victim blaming, Child death, Human experimentation (specifically using humans as materials)
* This novel deals mainly in distorted cognition. A lot of the horror elements of this novel revolve around affecting the emotions of the characters and what they see and believe. This is both true for our main characters and the general populace.
Yin Ren has PTSD about [redacted incident] 🫠... i don't blame him though.
Hu Tao 🥲
11) Twilight Hour
Gore, Suicide (really gorey),
Xiang Jiang is an incredible antagonist.
Thank you once again for reading my review! I hope this helps you decide if you want to read this novel, if you can't tell I really adore it. Its so hard writing reviews for novels where the main portion of it needs to be revealed in story so I can't talk about it 🫠
Reread Evil as Humans from 04/30/2025 to 05/23/2025! It took a while this time because I got distracted by various things aha... Yin Ren is still great and I still find this novel really inspiring for my own worldbuilding (considering the concepts that are quite similar.... it shocked me the first time I read it through (´▽｀) ..... ). Highly reccommended!
Reread Evil as Humans from 06/26/2026 to 07/20/2026. Once again... took a while to reread because I'm familiar with the novel. Still absolutely love this novel. Every time I reread it I find something else I hadn't noticed before.
A great milestone is set today! The first review for a Nian Zhong novel~ It is no joke when I say that Nian Zhong is currently my favourite author of all time, and I desperately hope they continue to write more novels in the future! This novel stands out quite a bit- despite the shorter length of the novel, it compares to Stray (another of Nian Zhong's) and may end up being my favourite of their novels...
Yin Ci is an immortal, and he desperately wants to die. For the last two hundred years he has been searching for the right method. Neither poison nor physical trauma can do him in, and even if burned to ashes his flesh regenerates.
Shi Jingzhi is mortal, and he desperately wants to live. His health has been poor since he was a child, and this may be his last year. He has set out into the world to find a way to extend his short life.
The Ghost Tomb, burial place for the notorious Yan Budu, has recently resurfaced in the world. Yan Budu was the a violent and cunning man, stealing many treasures to line his tomb. There are rumors that the Shirou, a substance that could be a devilish poison or divine medicine, was among the treasures placed in Yan Budu's tomb.
Yin Ci needs someone to help him mix into the Sects entering the Ghost Tomb, and Shi Jingzhi needs an extra body to form a Sect capable of entering as well. "Successfully" decieving each other, the new Sect Master Shi of the Kushan Sect and his head disciple Yin Ci set off for the Ghost Tomb to obtain the Shirou.
These two, who initially use the other for their convenience, end up with their lives becoming intertwined irreversably.
I absolutely adore this novel, from start to finish there is a ton of foreshadowing and readers are slowly fed clues to piece the plot together on their own. Once everything comes to light, its explained in full, but the! Slowly dawning horror of just how big this situation is, how every character is connected to each other, and the entanglement of Yin Ci and Shi Jingzhi versus the adversary they face is really compelling! Everything! Leads back to one! Thing!
I feel like even though Yin Ci dodges the 'every Nian Zhong MC gets grievously injured chapter one' curse, he ends up being the main character whose gone through the most pain out of all of them (and thats like. crazy by the way) 🥲 I really feel for Yin Ci and he's definitely a new favourite character of mine. Very compelling. I love how he slowly positions himself from the high and cold Demonic Lord Yin to being Shi Jingzhi's 'elder' to eventually completely softening his heart and becoming attached.
Shi Jingzhi is crazy, and I love him. He's scarily clever and manipulative, which makes him a perfect opponent for Yin Ci as they test each other out. Shi Jingzhi himself goes from treating Yin Ci as a beloved 'toy', to a cherished friend, to Yin Ci being the only person in the world that can be equal to his love.
Their duo together is the birth of a team who can scam everyone and anyone. They both deserve an award for their acting in a few cases... They're not afraid of showing others what they want to see so they can pull the wool over their eyes. And of course you can't forget the Nian Zhong special, 'You are a monster, but I love you regardless of your fears'.
The side characters! Are fully fleshed out and formed! A variety of people make up the supporting cast, and no one gets left behind. I particularly adore Shen Zhu, who acts innocently for most of the novel before fucking Getting You with how she resolves her issues. I had theee biggest smile on my face when towards the end where everything was falling into place and she had some extremely important parts. Yan Qing and Su Si's brotherhood is also really nice, and despite other's complaints I'm glad they weren't shuttled into a pairing and stayed good friends.
Go read the book!!! I feel like if I had read this one first instead of Stray, Sendoff may have been my #1 of Nian Zhong's novels.
How was the translation? Perfect. I'd trust Kinky with anything and everything. They also translated Criminal Psychology, their website is easy to access, and they've translated almost all of Nian Zhong's works. Kinky also goes out of the way to explain certain phrases and concepts that may confuse viewers, and wrote a summary of the plot that helps you to wrap your head around everything when it comes to light. There may be like.. one or two typos.
Would I recommend this novel? YES! Please go read it. The novel is shorter than Stray so it may be a better starting point to getting into Nian Zhong's works!!
Would I reread this novel? YES. A Nian Zhong novel marathon may become a yearly thing for me. Idk. I love them all and could reread them forever.
Trigger Warnings: Gore, Parasites (Insects), Past child abuse/alcoholism/domestic violence, Human sacrifice/experimentation, Child death, Self harm, Mentions of previous suicide attempts
Arc names and specific triggers under the cut, along with some random gushing:
1) Exploring the Ghost Tomb
Gore, Trypophobia, Parasitic insects
2) Hidden Village
Past alcoholism, Past child abuse, Gore, Human sacrifice, insects
gross
3) It's Cold at the Top
Gore
4) Insatiable Desire
Gore, Child death
5) Seeing a Gentleman
Gore
6) Seeing the Light of Day Again
Gore, Self harm
YIN CIIIII ;;;
7) Heaven and Earth are Impartial
Gore
Su Si o_o
8) Kushan With no Tree
Gore
AAAAA ok though the entire novel is absolutely stellar and I once again say. Nian Zhong is an author after my own heart. Yin Ci ends up being placed gently next to X*e Lian and Chu W*nning as characters whose arcs kill me!! to pieces!!! Same kind of character (positive) please give me more of them.
I do think I need to up what I put my own OC Era through.... it really pales in comparison 🥲 Need to continue to brainstorm.
Reread Sendoff by Nian Zhong from 06/14/2026 to 06/24/2026. This one is always contesting to be my favourite Nian Zhong novel. Its so good... Yin Ci is so incredibly maracore
A wonderful reread! I will say, coming into this novel the second time knowing exactly what to expect from the novel really helped my enjoyment of it. Its still probably my least favourite of the novels available from Nian Zhong, but its still quite good! Nian Zhong mentioned she was experimenting with this novel, and her next one after Access Denied was Sendoff (which may be my favourite). So! An enjoyable shorter novel!
Shu Jun is the top player in <Erosion>- a holographic game in a post-apocalyptic setting where Players purify dangerous monstrosities called Erosion Swamps. The unique draw to the game is when a Player dies in <Erosion>, they are deleted from the game and retired.
He wants to retire a few years early, and confess to his crush. In a decisive moment in the championship battle, he sacrifices himself to win the match. But as he sinks into the erosion swamp after placing the purifier, he realizes.. He's melting, agonizingly. He hasn't been logged out of the game.
When he wakes up, Shu Jun has become a monster much more dangerous than an Erosion Swamp.
What ultimately drives the novel's plot is the conflict between synthetic humans and their human creators, with a much larger threat lurking in the shadows. I can't say much else without touching on content best left described by the novel.
This is a war, and a farce, built upon the exclusive trust between Shu Jun and Zhu Yanchen.
Shu Jun! A monster who scorns humankind. And yet in order for his friend (read: lover) to live a bit more peacefully he carefully tucks in all of his sharp edges. With Zhu Yanchen, Shu Jun is extremely cautious and afraid of scaring him away. Faced with anyone else, Shu Jun doesn't hide his killing intent and disdain.
Zhu Yanchen has worked himself to death for years trying to find a way out for his synthetic friend- knowing he may never be rewarded for his work.
I really enjoy these two's dynamics in the early part of the novel before they get together. They go back and forth gently "testing" each other only to come to the conclusion time after time that the other isn't interested in them!! Because the other one has either frozen up or has been trying not to respond obviously before knowing what the other intends. Idiots! I love them.
The main side characters in this novel are really good, and I could talk paragraphs about any of them. My favourite character is definitely Luo Duan. His entire.. thing between him figuring things out to sinking into the abyss is! 100% maracore and although he has a good portion of the novel describing his thoughts and his despair I always want to see more. He's very interesting to me.
Ai Xiaoxiao and Xia Liang's revolutionary friendship! And Yi Ning's portions have his unique perspective on the events of everything, including his interactions with Luo Duan... Seeing things fall apart the way they do on his end really contrasts what Zhu Yanchen's people are doing.
Nothing is magically fixed. Humanity has to pull themselves together, but not before they fall apart. I really like how adamant Shu Jun is about making sure he is the only one fighting the final threat. Not to save humanity. But because he trusts Zhu Yanchen to not stab him in the back. No synthetics will die fighting a fight humanity should have ever again.
How was the translation? Perfect. I once again extol Kinky's praises!!
Would I recommend this novel? Yes~ Its good~
Would I reread this novel? Yes!! I'm gonna!
Trigger Warnings: Gore, Suicide, Human experimentation, Alcoholism (with a side character), Overall exploitation and debasement of intelligent (and arguably human) life
Arc names under the cut, and some random spoiler free notes from while I was reading:
1) A New World
Gore, Suicide, Human Experimentation
2) Day of Nirvana
Gore, Human Experimentation
3) Burning Beacon
Gore
4) Before the Calamity
Gore, Alcoholism
5) Return of the Dead
Gore
I will say an issue I'm having while reading Nian Zhong novels is that I sometimes Forget to write down a trigger as I'm reading because I'm just. absolutely sucked into the novel. If I end up missing something because of this feel free to scold me 🙏 But just know I'm having fun
random notes I jotted down:
"Shu Ge is probably the type of person who gets excited and shows off his glow-in-the-dark watch by turning off the lights." - Nian Zhong's author note
lmaoo idiots. knocks their idiot heads together. if one of these tests had ended up in them accidentally kissing this would have been resolved immediately but hey!! i think its fun watching them sweat about it
shu jun's urges to eat zhu yanchen as a monster And eat him in a lust way. my guy can supress so many urges until he bursts
Another random novel to kill the time~ I want to read more Korean novels so here I am. This one has good reviews and an interesting summary.
His sister is dead. His sister, who was a kind and altruistic person, died much younger than she should have... The virtue she accumulated in her life was enough to ascend her to a higher dimension, with enough left over to leave to him. So he gets a single wish.
Or, that's what the angel said.
So since he had nothing to wish for, he decided to transmigrate into his sister's novel, as her favourite, most cherished character. Surely a novel written by his sister would have nothing but kindness, with no real hardships and a happy life... Something he's never really had.
And he wakes up. After a bit... He realizes he's the villain of a novel he only read the first part of. And he... couldn't follow the main storyline. Leaving the children at this orphanage to the clutches of the black mage running it went against his morals. So he extended friendship to the protagonist, hoping to save them all.
He saved the protagonist, Cain, and most of the children! But he couldn't save himself- losing his memories of the orphanage and believing he had just migrated for the first time.
He meets Cain again by coincedence 4 years after his dearh- but why was this little hero so clingy? Why is he saying he wants to kill everyone in the world?
This novel is pretty.. Simple. A lot of the good bits are about Satin's own insecurities and his inner turmoil alongside his past. You wonder if he's normal... but he's not. Honestly he needs therapy.
Unfortunately the overarching plot is pretty much designed to be a let down, from the demon king to the demon god. His relationship with Cain is also odd- Satin never really addresses his aversion to certain things or his lingering ptsd due to his childhood... He does tell Cain about it in the end, but not in detail and nothing of substance is really done.
I like Rita and Edward. Rita is really funny- if this had been a normal novel she would have been a main draw for it. She's silly and serious and lively. Edward at least notices some of Satin's worries and detachment. I wish there had been more of a bigger deal with it..
Really the most interesting parts of the novel was the orphanage part with Cain and Satin working together to save themselves, and the side story epilogues where Satin and Cain are learning to live life (with the sealed Demon God shouting at them as it pleases. lol). I kept expecting something else to happen, but not even the magic system was ever really expanded upon even if it was built up in the beginning.
A short novel of mediocre substance. I do like Satin though.
How was the translation? Perfect. I don't think there was a single typo in the whole thing.
Would I recommend this novel? Eh.. Not my first choice.
Would I reread this novel? No. There's not enough here to come back to.
Trigger Warnings: Vehicle accident (mention), Child death, Animal death (mention), Human experimentation (child), Domestic violence (mention), Child abuse (past)
Tags: Apocalypse, Psychological, Romance, School life, Sci-fi, Supernatual, Yaoi
Chapters: 154
Read on: 06/03/2026 to 06/05/2026
I'm retreating from Ancient China novels back to my beloved sci-fi..... The summary on this one looks interesting, and I'm always a sucker for both 1) experimental subjects 2) mushroom powers. The reviews are mostly positive so I'm excited~
Tang Xiao decides to try out a new holographic game.. Its rumored to be so hard even professionals don't get very far. It even has monsters that match his aesthetic- an odd mushroom creature with bright red mycelium. Full of confidence, Tang Xiao logs in.
And within a few minutes, Tang Xiao is devoured by the mushroom monster he was excited to see.
Tang Xiao: .... Garbage game! I'm complaining to Customer Support!
Not to mention his main quest is to raise this thing's favorability to 100 (Favorability? Is this some kind of dating game...?), and evolve him into the King of Mushrooms. Trying nth amount of times to survive the first encounter with experimental subject 428, which indeed has an odd fixation on him, labratory minion Tang Xiao finally counterattacks and lives through the encounter.
While other researchers are looking at this newbie with awe, wondering how he could handle 428 so smoothly, Tang Xiao sneers. He'll finish this main quest.
Going from assistant researcher, to formal researcher, writing thesis after thesis, Tang Xiao slowly gains traction within Third Eye's labratories, catching the eye of many established scientists. He even applies what he learns to real life, joining a lab in reality as well. All the while trying his best to keep 428 from being scrapped. This mushroom guy was also slwoly becoming attached to this researcher who wants to help him evolve and escape....
When Tang Xiao dies to complete the main quest, he thinks everything is over. Heartbroken, but glad 428 is alive and will evolve perfectly, he returns to reality.
But for 428, Tang Xiao was everything a mushroom needed to grow. He needed no one else. Where did Tang Xiao go? He had to find him. Even if he had to cross dimensions and fuse their worlds together to do so, even if he had to lie to lure back the scientist that loved humanity so much. Back to his side.
Ahhhhh I really love this novel!! It lures you in with promises of Experimental Subject × Researcher.... and then hits you over the head with lab politics, thesis writing, and research research research. I honestly feel bad for Tang Xiao through most of the novel, the weight on his shoulders is really heavy... The plot is perfect, the romance is really good and organic, the ending made me really sad. I have to wonder if the author is a biology student themselves....
Tang Xiao's growth through the novel is really satisfying. I love his helpless scramble in the beginning, his worries of being exposed as a biology dummy until he builds his knowledge base, the confrontations between him and 428. Getting the mushroom to not immediately eat him is not easy, and the struggle in the beginning of the novel is really well written. He slowly becomes more confident as he continues, fighting hard to keep 428 from being scrapped and slowly learning how to actually love what he's doing. He ends up really loving his research, his mentors, and his peers in the lab. Tang Xiao glows when doing research, like he was born for it.. I will also say, all the abilities he's able to use through the game system is explained perfectly later. He's not overpowered because of it, its more like he needs the knowledge to even survive through what is coming. If he can't make it through and doesn't complete his main story quest, both worlds are doomed.
428 isss really good. From moving only by instinct to slowly evolving and understanding the human he's attached to, to falling in love and wanting to consider his feelings.. Its good. Tang Xiao is his world, he doesn't need anyone else. But Tang Xiao loves this world, so maybe he won't destroy it... He's sticky with Tang Xiao and insecure, convinced Tang Xiao will never choose him first. 428's little side comedy of sneaking into the counselling office and asking the counsellor for relationship advice is really funny. I can't talk a whole lot about 428 though, because the name he eventually gets as well as his real identity are ✨️ spoilers ✨️. Its very good though.
The side characters are very good. From Tang Xiao's eventual mentors in both worlds Xiao Bai, Dr Feng's partiality towards this promising junior, to his lab mates... Even Leon ends up being a nuanced character while opposing Tang Xiao and Xiao Bai's labratory status. Tang Xiao's parents and older brother's concern for him.. I think the author balanced the cast of characters very well.
Anyways here's another positive review to add to this novel's repertoire! I love things with time loops in them, I love scientific stuff, I love mushrooms. Give me all the mushroom characters please (I currently have 3 nickels).
How was the translation? Okay. Oyen's work always feels like it needs an extra editor... Awkward phrasing, typos, "Gunther" is translated as "Quintus" and as "Gentes" a few times, Raw text left in, pronoun confusion (tho this may be the author's fault tbh), "Lodge" is translated as "Rocky" once, "Alliance" is translated as "Union" in one chapter, excessive use of italics in a few later chapters. Its readable, but not perfect.
Would I recommend this novel? Yes!!
Would I reread this novel? Yes!!!
Trigger Warnings: Gore, Body horror, Animal death (mention), Self harm (mild), Experimentation on a sapient being (mushroom), Human experimentation (mention), Child death, Suicide, Vehicle accident (mention), Human sacrifice (mention, IF extra), Dubious consent (IF extra)*
*Don't read the IF extra if you don't want to see 428 in evil god form taking advantage of Tang Xiao.
No cut of course because there are no defined arcs. Thank you for reading my review~ 💜💜 I feel like there's a lot more I could say about this novel (positive) but I'm blanking out. Is research actually like this? Can someone confirm...
I remember reading this one rather early on- I've always been fond of the "oops I got the wrong person" trope in these transmigration novels so its nice to get back to it~ Also, this novel is currently licensed and the last volume of the novel is expected to be published in October this year. I got an epub of the CG translation that got taken down from a wonderful friend of mine 🥰 But please consider supporting the author! I definitely will!
Song Qingshi has died young. Of natural causes- he had a degenerative disease he spent his whole life studying medicine for. Upon death he is faced with a System- a thing that sputters for a bit but asks him if he's an experienced novel reader. Song Qingshi assures the broken system that he knows everything about novels, he's read them all! He can take on any task the system gives!
But.... Song Qingshi has never read a novel in his life. He never had time to- he was too busy with research. What tortured and abused Protagonist Shou? The information the system gave him doesn't even name this protagonist... Is this a test?
Comparing the two beauties he's presented with upon entering the world- an enchanting red bird at the end of its flight and a cute, gentle young man who's yet to see the terrors that unfold in this mansion, Song Qingshi decisively chooses the former. He's supposed to save him from the hardship, right? The latter hasn't had anything done to him yet.
And this patient he picked up is obedient and sweet. He's a little angel! Surely he should score perfectly with the System when his mission is completed.
Yue Wuhuan, hiding all his thorns behind a sweet smile: Yes.
This novel is! Heavy! And very good! The entire cultivation world in this novel is dark and predatory- rape, killing, and slavery is seen as normal. Yue Wuhuan is taken away from being a sex slave by Song Qingshi and the plot revolves around his recovery and defiance against a fate that wants to further push Yue Wuhuan into the mud.
Song Qingshi is pure but open-minded. He approaches things from a scientific and medical standpoint and has no prejudices.. He's also a bit airheaded and can only truly focus on one thing at a time. He's really cute and I love him- he's very sincere in everything he does even if he ends up being a little misguided on things he doesn't know (like what Gong and Shou actually mean, lol). His thoughts are fun to follow and there's never really a dull moment with him. And while he can be airheaded when it comes to emotions, he's also very sharp when he needs to be. He's very sincere towards everything he does, which includes being good to Yue Wuhuan. He accepts everything about Wuhuan, including his murderous urges and Wuhuan's lust and passion towards himself. If Wuhuan truly endangers innocent people, he'd just go into seclusion with him for a lifetime.
Yue Wuhuan issss. A character. He's very paranoid and defensive, and his mysophobia tends towards the extreme. He takes a while to realize Song Qingshi really doesn't want to hurt him or rape him like everyone he's met before, and his trauma runs deep. For a while its hard to Song Qingshi to even keep him alive- and his suicidal tendencies don't ever fully go away until the ending. He's petty, vindictive, and eager to torture and kill everyone who's ever even thought about touching him. Yue Wuhuan also is deeply disgusted with himself, viewing his entire self as dirty and unworthy of Song Qingshi's careful attention. He falls in love with the only person who's ever cared for him, but is terrified of getting Song Qingshi dirty by proximity, or losing control and submitting to his base urges that arise around him. The author even jokes about how most yanderes want to drag their beloved to bed, while Wuhuan pushes his beloved away from it.. I really like Wuhuan's character. He's not saved by love, and his road to recovery isn't smooth. He's a complex character that tends to go overboard when facing anyone besides Song Qingshi. But he also learns the hard way that Song Qingshi is, and always will be, sincere towards him.
The side characters are varied and nice, though the real pool of recurring characters is limited. Qing Luan has to be my favourite- she's trying very hard to protect her little friends from Yue Wuhuan's wrath while also striving forwards as a doctor in Song Qingshi's Medicine Valley. Kong Muhua towards the end was fun too. All the physical villains are canon fodder, but there's reason behind their shallow views and the world's overwhelming madness when faced with Yue Wuhuan. That's the real villain... The ending of this novel stayed with me when I first read it.. Can I also say I'm weak to plots including a phoenix? Because I am. 👍
How was the translation? Good. Typos, some wrong negatives, some pronoun issues. I'm sure the official release will be fine too.
Would I recommend this novel? Yes, if you're ok with repeated mentions and some descriptions of rape and sexual abuse that come with the entirety that is Yue Wuhuan and Bai Zihuan. I believe the content is handled well in the full context of the novel.
Would I reread this novel? Yes!
Trigger Warnings: Torture (mention, actual), Animal death (brief mention, actual), Human trafficking (sex trafficking etc), Rape (as part of the human trafficking, illusion), Sexual harassment, Suicide (offscreen, attempt, onscreen), Grooming (as part of human trafficking, described), Slavery (sex slaves), Drugs (past), Gore (mild), Slut shaming, Animal testing, Suicidal ideation, Self harm, Child abuse (past), Gore (mention, mild), Domestic violence (mentions), Homphobia (mention), Child death (mention)
*Detailed descriptions here because I had no real indication of where volumes ended.
Not sure why I'm reading this one other than I haven't found another novel I want to read.. And its been a while since I've read a pure xianxia-ey novel...
Zhao Zhao was accepted as a disciple of the War God Chang Yuan because of his face. In fact, because of his slight resemblance to the War God's first disciple (who has been in a coma for a few hundred years), Zhao Zhao entered the Fourteen States with precisely this as his goal. He doesn't care if Chang Yuan doesn't see him as a real disciple- he tricked the War God into taking him, after all. Zhao Zhao just needs a roof over his head as he works on his cultivation, gaining strength so he can go out into the world to find the one he's really looking for.
And the familiar face of his cheap shizun, one that looks 70% similar to the man he was waiting for.... That's a bonus. Who says substitution only goes one way?
To gain power as fast as possible, he initially steps onto the Ruthless path- the hardest path of the heavens because it requires the cultivator to discard all emotions and desires to ascend to godhood. With no one to watch out for him or give him the love he's looking for, he's desperate. He needs to find the one who promised him he'd be with him forever, looking at no one else.
I did quite enjoy this novel! Zhao Zhao is such a character- I really like how scheming he is and how he tries to hide all his multitude of insecurities under a sharp exterior. I sincerely cried over some of the things early on in the novel.. He's simultaneously a little shit and also the most trampled upon person in the world. His motivations and self soothing bundle into a weird back and forth in his head that makes him unstable emotionally, especially when he finds out certain things about his previous Shifu.
The overarching plot is nothing much to speak of. Its a pretty normal xianxia plot. The appeal is getting attached to Zhao Zhao and watching him ultimately get utterly destroyed. I was incredibly worried about him before the end of the third arc, and I really had all right to be. I love how the first part of the novel played out.
My only gripe is this: During the fifth arc, Zhao Zhao is basically reset emotionally because his memories are sealed away for him. While these memories are traumatic, they are also what shapes his personality and cunning, and he loses both in this arc. He becomes a silly little embarrassing thing and its annoying to look at. I do understand looking back at this arc that there's absolutely no way the plot points achieved in this arc would have happened if Zhao Zhao was fully there.. But its annoying. My clever little guy turned into a pampered idiot, which is exactly the kind of character Zhao Zhao dislikes. There's no other way he'd accept the love that's shown to him without losing his memories, though... But I wanted to see more of him navigating the shock that is gaining a noble family he didn't think he'd ever have. You do get some of that when he regains his memories, and ultimately the period of amnesia is short, but man.
Zhao Zhao is really good. I also like Chang Yuan- he doesn't accept Zhao Zhao because he looks like Mo Yu. He accepts him because of other circumstances and uses his appearance as a screen to keep others from also looking into Zhao Zhao. But he's cold and distant from his new little disciple, and he gets to regret this decision forever. I won't go into much of their relationship, its best experienced in the novel itself. They do get married towards the very end, don't worry too much about the tragedy tag. This novel has a happy ending.. And considering I end up feeling like a concerned mother over Zhao Zhao, its a feat that the author made me accept Chang Yuan's eventual relationship with him.
That is to mention- yes, this is a master-disciple relationship. And Chang Yuan knew Zhao Zhao from when he was a child, but that was also 400 years ago. This is one of those xianxias where everyone in the heavens are absolutely ancient, and Zhao Zhao is around a thousand years old. Chang Yuan is like, 30,000 years old. I personally don't care about age gaps when they get this ridiculous honestly. Zhao Zhao is emotionally mature enough to figure his own things out, and he's genuinely happy at the end of the novel and that's all I want to see.
The side characters are fine. I like the East China sea dragon couple, and that they have an affinity for Zhao Zhao from the second they see him. Both of his older brothers are very good, and I think Huaibi is my favourite side character. Zhao Zhao's little friends he gains later are also nice. After so long of knowing Mo Yu would be an obstacle, I was delighted to see he likes Zhao Zhao a lot. There's a good amount of villains scattered through the novel, but they all lack substance and are pretty one dimensional. Again, we aren't here for the actual plot!
Overall, the official summary of this novel is pretty misleading. If you want a novel that can take you through a bunch of emotions, this is definitely a good pick. I'll probably read this one again in a few years.
How was the translation? Good! A few typos, some odd grammar, a few missed pronoun swaps. Nothing bad.
Would I recommend this novel? Sure~
Would I reread this novel? Yes!
Trigger Warnings: Incest*, Gore, Suicide, Suicidal ideation**, Child abuse, Child abandonment, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Master-disciple relationship, Infant death, Human sacrifice, Torture, Age gap
*Brief mentions, mostly a royalty "keeping bloodlines pure" thing. One mention is a brief play.
**Zhao Zhao goes off the deep end for a bit. Actually if he didn't have his memories wiped he'd probably have actually killed himself after the arc was done so I guess it was necessary.
Arc names and detailed triggers under the cut:
1) Apprenticeship
2) Jade Carving
Incest (Cousins, this is a royalty type thing and its just a marriage contract, won't tag this again), Gore
3) The Ruthless Path
Suicide (attempt)
4) Rising High
Suicidal ideation
5) Dragon's Roar
Child abuse (mention), Child abandonment (mention), Sexual harassment (offscreen, minor character)
Had this one on my list for a while! Considering every review on the first page of the NovelUpdates page is absolutely glowing, I'm excited to read it~
An Extra takes the stage at the beginning of the world, with no personal lines- he's only here to toss a flower onto the deceased hero's coffin at his funeral. After that? With no other plot relevance, he'll scatter into ashes with the rest of irrelevant.
The only thing that can save his life is entrenching himself in the plot- an Extra can be discarded, but a Minor or Supporting role has multiple scenes and won't leave the stage easily. And this plot rotates around the protagonist, the man currently lying in the coffin with his soul inhabiting the body of a minor noble in the alleyway nearby.
He'll need to approach him and make sure he has an excuse to journey with him to extend his short life a little more. In other words-
If he doesn't become a main character, he'll die.
This novel is. Wow. I really absolutely love it. Its crazy how much it gripped me from the very beginning- the literal world building around him as the protagonist slowly becomes more cognisant. The horror of being an Extra on a stage ready to discard you. The fact that the main character doesn't even have a name for a good while- its a narrative on the creative process from the inside of the world created. I'm weak to this topic as a creative myself, and I definitely cried a few times towards the end of the novel. I can't even say much of why its so good because a good portion of it is best encountered as you read it, blind. This author loves the story. This author loves everything within it.
The main character gets to experience a lot of horrors with little knowledge of the future- hurriedly scanning through the script of the next scene while feeling out the mechanics of the budding world around him. The first act and area Sinistra is the most outwardly horrifying- streets twisting to life under the gaze of Leovald the protagonist, Extra characters with a single line of repeated dialogue populating an inn which didn't exist before our main character told Leovald it did. The slow realization that this story is not a normal western fantasy like it presents itself, with a slow corruption that churns underneath the existing narrative- erroding it.
On top of the anxiety of trying to get ahead of the unfolding narrative and twist it in his favor, he also has to keep an eye on his plot relevance and raise it. If Leovald decides to leave without him once this act is over, he will quickly lose relevance in a city the Hero will not return to. He must follow Leovald out. He can't die here.
I can't say too much about our little protagonist Leo- he's very good too. A beast in human clothing, tamed by a mysterious man who refuses to tell him his name... I pretty much cheered every time we got Leo's perspective in a chapter- he's not normal. The main character is too deep into his love vision of Leo to really notice and its funny.
I adore the main character and Leo's relationship. The main character has an incredible chemistry with Leo, and their relationship slowly becoming more and more entwined as they spend time together is done in a comfortable and realistic way. I love how they slowly build up a solid trust between each other- Leo's embrace is the MC's only safe harbor, and the MC's secrets fascinate Leo in a way no other person or thing does.
The plot! The other characters! Holy shit I love Godric and everything around him (not elaborating bc spoilers) and the horrors he brings to the narrative by simply existing within it! I love the corrupted enemies that I cannot elaborate on either! I love the two behind the scenes working hard to give this play a happy ending. I love how gently created all the original characters within the play are. There is care placed in every major character (even if they aren't necessarily a Supporting character).
The Ertinez family is great- Celestina is probably my favourite out of all of them. Vittorio follows the main leads around like a little tail and has a satisfying character arc that ends with a bang. The Field Army characters that originally followed Leovald- Raul, Natalie, Paulo- are all funny and competent and I love their dynamic with each other. The original Leonardo is a rouge and I was happy every time he showed up- and his reluctance to explain things to his family is very him. I wish we had seen the outcome of that... Duke Marchez with his monster research obssession... There's just so many good characters.
This is a novel that plays with but ultimately celebrates the 'Story' and everything within it. The pure love and appreciation of creation that this author displays throughout the novel kills me. I don't usually like comparing things in these reviews, but if you were moved by O/R/V's epilogue you'll definitely like this novel as well. I can't wait to see if this author has more novels. Please read this one!
How was the translation? Great! Maple's translation had a few bumps in the middle (mostly a few sentences ommitting the subject) but there were no typos and only a few 'tense' mixups. Maple seems to have left all the honorifics (i.e. 'noonim') out but it still flows well. Shirubame was wonderful but the translation for the IF side story had some bumps (Shirubame didn't like it so didn't put as much effort into it. I don't blame them).
*Don't read the IF side story (last 10 chapters) if you don't like coercive relationships and explicit rape- this is a bad ending for our poor protag. Rape is not part of the main story and the normal extras are very good.
Detailed triggers (which are few honestly) and arc names under the cut- I went by chapter title for the arcs before I realized there were bigger arc cuts and just kept going 😅
1) The Afterlife of the Good Person
2) Sub-Quest
Human sacrifice (mention)
A little awkward phrasing.
3) Searching in the Dark
Self harm (mild)
4) Fun Dungeon Exploration!
Child death (mention)
5) Escape
Gore, Self harm (mild)
6) How to Catch a Big Fish
Gore, Torture (mention), Body horror
7) Hooked!
Animal death (mention)
8) Turmoil
Gore, Body horror, Cannibalism (ish)
9) Ashes
Body horror, Gore
10) Intermission
Gore, Animal death (?)
11) Nameless Ones
Gore, Body horror
12) Promise
13) Reunion
14) The Return of the Prodigal Son
15) Renovation
16) No Secrets
17) Home Visit
Self harm (mild)
18) Rumours
Gore, Body horror, Suicide (mention)
19) Turning Point
20) The Opportunist in Crisis
21) The Visitor
22) Capgras Syndrome
23) Treasure Hunt
Body horror, Gore (mild)
24) Farewell
25) Second Intermission
Gore, Body horror
26) Reconnaissance
Some sentences feel a bit awkward, eg "The fake Duke hoped to let slip more information" should be more like "I hoped the fake Duke would let slip more information".
27) Reunion
28) Chasing Tails
29) Persuasion
Body horror
30) Diversionary Tactic
Gore
31) Frame Out
Body horror
32) Wise Imprisonment Life
33) Reunion
Gore (mild)
34) Festival of the Gods
Gore
35) Final Intermission
36) Patching Up
Suicide, Gore
37) Confession
Vehicle accident
38) Turning Point
39) Another Beast Emerges from the Earth
Body horror
40) The Conspiracy
Body horror
41) The Heroic Chronicles of Leovald
Gore
42) Full Stop
Body horror
43) If I Don’t Become the Main Character, I’ll Die
Gore
44) Extra: Curtain Call
Cannibalism (fantasy)
45) Extra: If (If MC had failed)
Rape (wow...), Body horror, Cannibalism (real), Self harm, Gore, Suicide
Tags: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, School life, Supernatural, Yaoi
Chapters: 139
Read on: 05/23/2026 to 05/25/2026
I read this one a while ago and remember liking it? Another novel from Wang Ya, who also wrote Working Records in a Weird World and Thriller Trainee~
Zong Yan has a secret: he can pull cards from the void. When he crushes these cards, he gains the superpower inscribed on the card. Low ranking cards let him summon a cup of water or learn a new language fluently- but the high ranking cards change him completely, a Daily Disposable Persona.
Eventually he gets caught by the government- they assume he's a rare Awakener: a subset of the human race that awakens to find themselves able to control certain elements. The more elements you control, the stronger you are.
Fake Awakener Zong Yan who has the cards to control over ten elements: ... Haha.
So this shining new prospect is enrolled in Miskatonic University and exposed to the hidden world of aliens and gods, and personally comes in contact with many of them. This itself was fine, but... Could someone tell him why the Lord of the Gate was pretending to be his senior brother??
Yay! I remembered correctly- I do really like this novel. Its a step away from the last one; Unlike most novels which borrow settings from the Lovecraftian myths, this one gives humans a bit of a chance to fight back. It changes how the novel feels and emphasises a bit less on the body horror/gore/despair unless facing one of the gods directly. That isn't to say there's none- there's still plenty blood and despair- but it feels more like an action-adventure novel than horror. And thats fine! The author explicitly states that they have a lot of personal settings mixed in and this effect is completely intentional.
The plot is pretty good- it centers on Zong Yan himself and how he slowly figures out who he is and reacts to the world around him. Every new threat is something he has to figure out, while every move he makes is under the slightly curious eyes of Yog-Sothoth.
Zong Yan is a cute, lonely teenager who tries to keep to himself but secretly wishes for friends and warmth. He's weak to people who are nice to him and thus finds himself with a few friends as he moves forward. His relationship with Yog-Sothoth is pretty cold until Yog really starts trying to win him over, but he does have partiality towards him beforehand (as opposed to his blatant dislike of Nyarlathotep and Shub-Niggurath, who hang around too because of things). I like how their relationship develops and the mystery behind who Zong Yan is and why he is the only one with the power he has. I really like the mobius strip Wang Ya weaves- the reasons why all the Evil Gods feel partial to Zong Yan is deserved. Just wait for the plot~
Yog-Sothoth is an evil god, and thus cannot truly love someone. But he does figure out that Zong Yan, who he was only slightly interested in before because He can't see his timeline- is important enough to him that he must watch him always. I think Wang Ya really sold the thoughts and actions of all the evil gods, its emphasised how they aren't human and never will be. Yog-Sothoth havung to simulate human emotions to try to figure out just what the heck his little human is thinking is always really funny to me. Somehow this cosmic horror entity ends up being the funniest character here 🙂↕️ Though I think if you had to choose from those three, Yog-Sothoth is the better choice. If I had a nickel for every time someone fell in love with him in a danmei....
Side characters are there but mainly supplement the plot. While Wang KeMing and Edward are given a bit of spotlight and plot, its far less than the evil gods surrounding Zong Yan. I don't think this was a detriment really, but Zong Yan needs some time with humans too lol. They are enough to help dispell some of his gloominess and keep his attention on the MU crew. I just think that the Dragon group should have had more screen time- every time he turns around He Yuan is on another trip and can't help out. I was expecting a little more from the guy appointed to be his mentor.
This novel also deals with a lot of non-chinese countries and some of the depictions are a little... Shallow. I wouldn't say its egregious, just a bit misinformed. I've seen worse honestly, and Confectioner is really good at pointing some of the author's misconceptions out. Its easily overlooked.
Overall this novel is a lighter read with funny interactions and an interesting mystery to unfold. I personally like "group pet" (where everyone loves the MC) novels that are done well and have definitive reasons as to why everyone loves the main character and this novel certainly delivers. I think Zong Yan is charming, and I really love Yog-Sothoth. Converting now-
How was the translation? Perfect! I think there was only a single typo in the whole text. Confectioner is really thorough on tl notes about the different phrases and transliterations they make.
*From a brief look into Yog-Sothoth's thoughts if Zong Yan ended up rejecting him. He's an evil god, you can't really say no to him. I shrug. Zong Yan obviously doesn't go down this route.
**I'll also mention that Harry Potter is mentioned a few times as a comparison in the text, but this novel is older so 😗
Arc names and detailed triggers under the cut:
1) Child of the Wind
Gore (brief, mild)
2) The Night Watchman
Suicide (brief mention), Cults, Human sacrifice, Gore (mild), Self harm
Mild crossdressing joke..
3) The King of Clouds
Gore
4) The Astrologer
Gore (mild)
5) The Sun God
Racism (sinophobia), Gore, Human sacrifice
6) R'lyeh
Gore
7) High School Student
Body horror (mild), Gore
8) Little Majesty
Gore (mild), Rape* (fantasy?)
*Yog-Sothoth is not a normal person and briefly thinks about what normal conventions of an evil god would do with Zong Yan if he refused (little black room), but obviously he doesn't do this and instead has coaxed Zong Yan into reciprocating.
9) Extras
Gore (mild), Slavery (brief mention- ancient Egypt)
Thanks for reading my review! See you in the next one 💜💜💜
A shorter novel this time! I don't think I've read anything by this author before, so its exciting~ This novel leans heavily into Cthulian mythos for its setting.
Guan Zhongliu is a waiter at the Huai'an Inn, tasked with receiving and helping guests. His beautiful boss runs a brokerage business on the side, but Zhongliu hasn't seen the craftsman Boss Zhu works with. The brokerage business attracts people from vastly different social classes and even different cities- all clamoring for his Inkeeper to help fix their problems.
After accidentally getting involved in something he shouldn't have, Zhongliu realizes.. This is an entirely different world.
And his curiosity won't let him retreat to safety.
I think this novel is quite neat! Most cthulian mythos danmei are set in either hyper-futuristic settings or in modern day, so this is my first time seeing it in an ancient chinese setting! The way it is all integrated together while retaining other normal ancient chinese settings like the Dao, sects, etc is done very well. Hui is just another part of the universe, and Hui just happens to be what the unknown thrives through.
Zhongliu is a good protagonist with a lot of secrets hidden within him. Some, he doesn't even know himself. But as he continues to interact and be affected by Hui, his secrets slowly come to light and you realize he's much more than just a small waiter. I really like him and his character arc, I really like his struggling with his affection for Zhu Helan and his fascination towards all things secret. He has a running thread throughout him that is an observer- a record. I quite like it.
Zhu Helan is really captivating as a character. From his initial small interest in Zhongliu, to him quickly realizing his feelings for this guy are getting to strong- his conflict between his duty and his wants, vs his immortality and how lonely it is... Its very good. I eat this up every time. I love how he reacts every time Zhongliu is in danger, its fun to see his convictions crack when the person he clearly likes is involved~ Their romantic progression was quite satisfying.
Side characters! Everyone who works at the Inn is great, Zhongliu's initial hostility towards Song Mingzi is funny, Spoiler Character Z is really good. Its a little unfortunate that die to how short the novel is (and each chapter is) the villains and some shorter lived (figurative) side characters get less time to shine but the main draw of the novel is all the interactions between the Hui and Tainted Gods anyways, alongside the mystery behind who Zhongliu actually is.
Speaking of! This novel goes out to all the body horror enthusiasts, which makes sense considering the subject matter. Body horror and gore go hand in hand in this novel, so if you're weak to that kind of stuff maybe skip this one.
In all, I could hardly put this novel down once I started reading it. I like the ending- kind of wish there were some extras- and I like how Zhongliu ended up quite a lot. I'll definitely revisit these two in the future.
How was the translation? Great! A few typos here and there, but the edited MTL is very easy to read and doesn't have many flaws at all (besides the one chapter where 'Zhongliu' was left in as 'Chong Six' a few times). I'll definitely peruse some of the other translations Moonlight River has done.
Would I recommend this novel? Yes! As long as you're good with copious amounts of body horror and fleshy things.
*Reminder that a lot of these triggers are actually just mentions in the story itself- see the detailed triggers for further info.
Arc names and detailed triggers under the cut:
1) Wedding Dress
Body horror, Parasites (insects), Gore, Infant death (mention), Human sacrifice
2) Brass Chopsticks
Eye horror, Body horror, Gore, Infant death (mention)
3) Su Rong's Fan
Body horror
4) Yellow Robe
Gore, Body horror, Rape (mention), Domestic violence (mention), Child abuse, Infant death (brief mention), Parasites
5) Compass Fish
Gore, Body horror, Self harm
6) Human Fungus
Gore, Body horror
7) Begonia Wood Chest
Child abuse (mention), Cannibalism (mention), Slavery (mention), Body horror, Gore
8) Thousand Man Drum
Human sacrifice (mention), Child death (mention), Body horror, Gore, Child abandonment (mention), Suicide (mention), Cannibalism (mention), Torture (mention)
9) Island of the End
Body horror, Gore, Torture
Zhongliu is translated as "Chong Six" a few times.
If I had a nickel for the amount of times someone has fallen in love with Yog-Sothoth in one of these danmei I'd have two nickels. And the second nickel I'll probably be rereading next.
Here's a novel that has! Crazy good reviews (299 5* out of 365 total on NovelUpdates) and one I've seen around before. Sang Wo is the same author who did Born to Be Rebellious which I really loved and reviewed in 2024! Translated by 98Novels, who translate via edited MTL which can be hit or miss, but is usually readable. Here's to another really long novel to review~
Wen Jianyan is a professional scammer, lying as easily as he breathes. Focused entirely on his own pleasure and hedonism, he forges no bonds and has no one to miss him.
Right after he finished a scam with his biggest payout yet, he wakes up in Nightmare-A streaming system that forces Anchors through Instances for an unknown audience. Great. He was about to retire, and now he's forced to risk his life here??? Go to hell.
Deceiving both humans and NPCs alike, focused on digging the bloody truth out of the dark, Wen Jianyan completely flips the table on its head while also targetting Nightmare itself. How dare it bind him?
And as unrestrained and intelligent as Wen Jianyan is, he still runs into a bit of a hiccup... Why has this 'Father God' he woke up (and then immediately lied to) keep following him?!
This novel is so well structured. Its very long, sure, but it needs to be- the main plotline is dense and very well executed. Both danger and rest are balanced delicately in a way that keeps the reader engaged. I wouldn't even say it starts slow- the pace of information is slowly unvealed in an almost artful way. I cried reading the author's note on the final chapter. Sang Wo really poured their soul into this novel and it shows!
I kept having little realizations about things in the novel as I read it- figuring out some of what was going on as Yanyan did. Some of Hugo's reactions in particular that were never explicitly explained are crystal clear to me. That blows me away.
Wen Jianyan is a little liar who is also prone to being scared shitless and while that cowardly part of him is best showcased in the first few instances, you can see it in the way he grows as an Anchor too. If he can't talk his way out of something, he runs. He's sensitive as hell to the rules of instances and how things interact with each other, relying on his brain more than his items and Talent. I really love how all of this built up, a steady progression of competence that feels realistic. Wen Jianyan is still incredibly fragile even in the final arc- but his bonds with everyone and his quick thinking serve him well to directly face Nightmare.
A huge part of his character arc is him slowly learning to let others take risks with him. He's inclined to make friends- incredibly good at it, actually- but since he ends up being targetted by Nightmare he tries to keep them out of it. He may keep everyone at bay, but cherishes each and every one of them. Even the ones that he loses. Somehow, most of his team is someone he's deceived, but all of them love him and look up to his leadership. And have a victim's club open to the next person he scams, lol.
And above all else, remember this: Yanyan is a professional hole digger. He's continuously leaving pitfalls for himself, especially when facing Wu Zhu lol.
Wu Zhu I can say less of just because of how important he is to the plot, but know that I love him. His character arc is entirely focused around Wen Jianyan. Without Wen Jianyan, he wouldn't even be awake. From a tyrannical and fierce god who could kill this lying Bishop of his that defies him at every turn to realizing what he has in his hands is a lively spark that consumes him whole- that he gladly gives himself to. Folding away the claws and fangs to anxiously seek out Yanyan's love- he goes from a beast relying on instinct to being obedient and being sensitive to Yanyan's thoughts and wishes. From hatred to overwhelming love. I really like it. Its a slow change and towards the beginning he's pretty forceful with Wen Jianyan- who then manipulates him in kind- and he has no real sense of shame (which Wen Jianyam has a lot of-) so the interactions between them are really interesting and I look forward to their next meeting every time.
The romance is very slow, in fact before about about a third of the way in its impossible. But after evening the playing field both of them slowly start to realize both the importance of the other to them. I like it a lot- enemies/antagonists to somewhat working together to unable to let the other go in this lifetime. Is good. Give me more God/Mortal interactions I crave it-
The side characters arreee so good I liked pretty much every character introduced. Sang Wo says that its harder for them to write larger casts, so they worked extremely hard to make sure every character introduced had their time to shine and was integrated into the plot seamlessly. I love all of Wen Jianyan's eventual friends, I love Dan Zhu for reasons that are spoilers, I even really like the characters we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with like Chen Cheng. Orange Candy may be my favourite side character, but Bai Xue is also a real contender for first and I enjoyed the reveal of his Talent. Ma Qi is adorable and I wish she had been introduced sooner so I had more of her. Everyone has their spot, and even the split POV of the last arc when we got long chapters that didn't include Wen Jianyan at all were chapters I couldn't stop reading. Its very good and I think Sang Wo accomplished their goal beautifully.
And Nightmare itself! I got chills from some of the final reveals- just how Nightmare works, what its trying to do, everything is seamlessly foreshadowed and absolutely crazy I love it. I want more novels where the System controlling the Infinite Flow is somehow Something Else.
The instances!! The way they all link together!!! The core function for each one are definitely after my own heart. I always favor IFs that have their instances have ties to each other and this one does it really well! The ensemble reveal in the final chapters is. whew. I really enjoyed both how Yanyan tore down each one and then how he used his knowledge to his advantage later. Some arcs are over 100 chapters long, and I never felt like I was looking at how many chapters were left till we were done with a particular instance. And that is incredibly rare in this genre~
Anyways I have nothing but praise for this novel. Its well worth the over 700 chapters to read! Please do! I will be revisiting this one in the future for sure.
How was the translation? Good. It is edited MTL, so has some missed stuff. Some typos, some mild disjointed sentences, translating "En" (sound of agreement) as "Well" once, mild typos, some wrong names, some swapped genders and negatives (not/no etc), anchors/streamers used interchangibly, Overzealous use of bold, full uppercase, and italics in some parts (😐), hanzi left in, inconsistent terms. A lot of the weirder ones I documented in the detailed triggers, but overall its much better than the last novel I read translated by them.
Would I recommend this novel? Absolutely!
Would I reread this novel? Yes.
Trigger Warnings: Gore, Body horror, Animal abuse, Animal death, Self harm, Infant death, Child death, Medical abuse, Medical malpractice, Cannibalism, Torture, Parasites, Gender dysphoria as a mental illness*, Homophobia, Psychiatric abuse, Genre-typical demonizing of mental illnesses*, Hydrotherapy, Electroshock therapy, Human experimentaton, Sexual harrassment**, Lobotomy, Self harm, Suicide, Dubious consent***, Human sacrifice, Eye horror, Huamn trafficking, Humans as furniture, Calling a child a slut, Vehicle accident
*Defining being gay as gender dysphoria, specifically.
**An instance gets mutated with Wu Zhu's fragment, causing them to be really focused on Yanyan and the "hunger" caused by the fragment gets interpreted by the human NPCs uh... a little more than carnally. Wen Jianyan is a little shit who immediately capitalizes on this.
***Considering Yanyan is the one who dug this pit and is just embarrassed the dubious is on the lighter side. He immediately contemplates asking for it afterwards 🙂↕️
Detailed trigger warnings and arc names under the cut:
1) Decai Middle School (D)
Gore (mild), Body horror, Animal abuse, Animal death, Self harm
This setup... I'm mildly reminded of Playing the Prophet and I am quite intrigued 👀 Hell yeah provoke the final boss 👍
2) Fukang Private General Hospital (C)
Body horror, Infant/child death, Medical abuse, Gore, Animal death (corpses), Medical malpractice
Hahaha Yanyan the hole you're digging is about to breach the usa from china
3) Antai Community (B-)
Child death (mention), Infant death, Gore, Cannibalism (maybe), Torture
YEAHHHHHH YEAH! Ough this is so good
4) Fantasy Amusement Park (A)
Body horror, Self harm, Parasites (frog, ghost baby), Gore, Torture
Yanyan's special ability is digging holes for himself, obviously.
5) Ping An Asylum (A-)
Gender dysphoria as a mental illness, Homophobia, Psychiatric abuse, Gore, Genre-typical demonization of mental illnesses (schizophrenia, DID), Hydrotherapy (mention), Electroshock therapy, Medical abuse, Human experimentation, Sexual harrassment**, Lobotomy (mention), Body horror, Self harm, Suicide
**Wu Zhu's big big hungry for Yanyan is making the NPCs unwell *watches excitedly * And while Wu Zhu's hunger is a more Eat Him For Real situation the NPCs are human and interpreting the urge as they will.
Man I love this instance. Shaking Sang Wo's hand. Author who knows my heart.
6) Chansheng Building (A+)
Gore, Infant death (ghost baby), Dubious consent*
Some jokes from the barrage about Yanyan dressing up as a girl in this instance and "You didn't expect it, the beauty's a guy" stuff. Also yay An Xin a guy is fine too!
Some inconsistent terms, mainly the Chansheng building's name. Not hard to follow.
*Its Yanyan's fault that he's teaching Wu Zhu these things. the hole. Yanyan the hole you're digging!
7) Xingwang Hotel (S)
Gore, Body horror, Child death, Human sacrifice, Self harm (brief), Suicide
Nightmare system = Meng Tong, Some hanzi left in, Xingwang Hotel = Flourishing Hotel
8) Yuying Comprehensive University (A)
Gore, Suicide, Self harm, Body horror, Cannibalism (adjacent), Eye horror
Yanyan is forced to dress as a girl for part of this instance without using his appearance change. Some mild jokes about that.
A bunch of the same typo. Brother Hu and A-bao= Tiger and Panther/Leopard, Fortune Beckoning Boy=Lucky Cat, Society=Clubs, Admission=Matriculation,
AHHH THIS IS SO GOOD what the hell this is so good. Fuck, yanyan.
8.5) Vacation
Dubious consent*
*Wu Zhu is more enthusiastic than Yanyan is prepared for fhdhdks. its fine
9) Lucky Cruise Ship (SS)
Gore, Body horror, Torture, Human trafficking, Suicide (ish), Self harm, Humans made into furniture
Bricklayer=Mason
10) Infinite Train + Beyond
Bullying, Child death, Torture, Child abuse, Child neglect, Calling a child a slut (Instance NPC to instance NPC), Gore, Suicide, Self harm, Humans made into furniture, Body horror, Cannibalism, Eye horror, Infant death (ghost babies)
I really love all of this. So many things come together here, and its ending up to be my favourite thing of every instance is linked together some way.
11) Extras
Vehicle accident, Self harm (mention), Infant death (ghost babies),
Lol the ghost baby diaries. They hate Wu Zhu 👍
Thank you for reading my review 💜💜💜💜 Its so nice to have a good one after the last disaster.
The long awaited! Paintings of Terror is here! I remember running into this novel around 2021 and I have been following the translation progress off and on since then. Getting the completion notification from the CG discord a week ago was a surprise~ <- written before reading.
No summary this time. I had to drop the novel on chapter 356 out of 382 simply because I could not find it in me to read it anymore.
I will go over the good things first.
First off, the translation is very solid, pretty good. I am grateful to all the translators that have picked this novel up over the years and their dedication to bringing this novel over to english even as the raws got deleted. I didn't see anyone point out why (though I think a translator mentioned the author may have said something in jest that got them censored) but I have to wonder if the author took the novel down voluntarily. This is their only novel credited on NovelUpdates, and when I went on JJWXC I couldn't find their author page (tho I didn't look too hard besides confirming the deleted raws).
The beginning of the novel is fine. Each painting is varied and interesting, and in most cases the new main characters are interesting or at least have something to bring to the table (be that conflict or knowledge). Ke Xun's growth as a person is natural and nice to see, and the main group we assemble in the first half of the novel is good. I think my favourite side character is Zhu Haowen, and I like his quiet epiphanies to himself on how much he likes Ke Xun. He's never up front about it, but quietly likening Ke Xun to a little sun or a husky... Its cute. Unfortunately I liked Ke Xun's interactions with Mu Yiran more before they got together but that's just because it was more interesting then.
And here comes the bad: This author is an amateur writer, and most of the frustration I felt while reading this novel is because of this (though some things may be the author's biases). Amateur writing is not bad in and of itself, we all have to start somewhere. But I in particular have little tolerance for some of the things the author fumbles here and everything together made it feel like a chore to read instead of just finishing a mid novel.
A thing you will quickly notice while reading this novel is that women suck and don't live through paintings. Every arc has a small handful of women introduced, and each one dies way too quickly or in ignorance to what is happening around them even as worse male characters live. How many times do I have to read about the scared girlfriend?? Not even one of the trio of fujoshi girls lived? Hello? The cute tour guide girlie and nice but odd middle aged woman couldn't become main party members?
The fact that a mainstay female character that lives through more than two paintings doesn't show up until THE NINTH ARC 188 CHAPTERS INTO THE NOVEL is insane. And while I love Fang Fei and think she's neat, she should Not have been the first one Or she should have been introduced way earlier which brings me to my second major grievance:
The overarching plot is tacked on way too late, in an ugly fashion. After the twelfth painting (almost 300 chapters in btw) suddenly everyone starts really brainstorming what is going on- helped by Wu You, who's grandmother is a shaman and can see their gu-xiang. I want to remind you that after previous paintings, the most we get between paintings is a Single Chapter where the characters relax, so this is kind of shocking.
This plot line should have started as early as the ninth arc, if not further behind. It should have been a call and response of the group slowly figuring out the connections between the paintings and challenging their views with the next painting they enter, which simply cannot happen when you only have two more paintings left to get into. This crash course of discussion on the character's part ends up in a 9 to 10 chapter long multiple wikipedia page exposition dump that sounds like baseless conjecture because there is no solid evidence for their wildly spinning out of control assumptions about the "painting instigator".
In these ten chapters you get exposition dumps about gu-xiang, ancient chinese shamanism, Qin ShiHuang's Nine Cauldrons and where they were lost, Earth Cords, and the origins of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, among other things I skimmed over. Yes, I actually ended up skimming the later chapters and guess what, I didn't miss anything because they summarize it all in another 400-600 words like there's a writing stretch goal they have.
These chapters actively killed not only my momentum in wanting to keep reading (I started avoiding the novel about 5 chapters in to the info dump) but also actively killed my interest in the painting instigator and overarching plot. Its fine to write just to write, which is what I think happened in the beginning, but don't try to forcibly shove together clues that aren't there. Don't try to call upon foreshadowing that doesn't exist. And having the group be completed (all of them survive a painting) in the very next arc (after an epiphany that all of them need to survive) with not one, but three newcomers in the easiest painting the author could have possibly come up with after everything is just. Lazy. Lazy lazy lazy writing that doesn't feel good and killed my momentum further. I do like the newcomers added in the He-He painting. I like the concept of the He-He painting. It was too easy after literally every other painting and the split pov through the arc made the painting feel like it should have been a much, much earlier arc. And even the mystery of what Mu Yiran went through because he was sorted alone is not enough for me to keep reading.
It really sucks because I think that the plot introduced has potential. The real Classic of Mountains and Seas and its origin being something shamanistic or the gateway to a seperate world is really interesting! But not implemented in this way. Even the final arc, the few chapters that I read, are confusing and not engaging, and I really don't care about what's going on anymore. Its a shame.
And even besides all of that, a lot of paintings have weird plot holes that aren't addressed and even the comments were with me on the confusion. Why didn't they use the corpses of their fellow painting goers in the Faith arc? Its not like they're alive, so why go kill people in the painting? Ke Xun buys a ton of phones but doesn't seem to remember he can use them (not even thinking about it) until its convenient a few arcs later. Ke Xun literally physically can't write in a painting that requires him to write to answer a question and not die. An arc where certain characters were ignored had an extra character that was only ignored when it seemed convenient to let her try to kill everyone else, while interacting with her just fine before that. The fact that the voting mechanic is never actually used outside the first painting. The fact that random acts of death don't happen in the later paintings like the author wants to lessen the shock they were going for earlier in the novel. Little things like that that just feel.. Out of place. An oversight.
Overall this novel is mediocre at best and infuriating at worst and I have many, many better novels to read that are much better. I think this novel needs the light novel treatment- let the author rewrite this novel knowing what their end plot is and fix the incredibly bad pacing. Its not the worst novel I've ever read, but I'm definitely not coming back to this one. Ke Xun's canonical above-butt tattoo be damned.
How was the translation? Good. Some typos, doubled paragraphs, and name swaps, but they were all minor.
Would I recommend this novel? No. Go read something better, like Survivor 01.
Would I reread this novel? Absolutely not.
Trigger Warnings (Ch1-356): Vehicle accident, Gore, Body horror, Incest, Discrimination of those with birth defects, Torture, Self harm, Suicide, Slavery, Cults, Child death, Bullying, Fatphobia, Humans as livestock, Eating disorders, Breeding of humans, Force feeding, Cockfighting, Animal abuse, Animal death, Age gap, Human experimentation, Infant testing, Sensory deprivation, Electroshock therapy, Lobotomy, Conversion therapy, Homophobia, Mysoginy, Domestic violence, Rape, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Medical abuse, Human trafficking, Insects, Parasites, Suicidal thoughts, Usage of the term "mentally retarded"*, Slut shaming
*Used by a cannon fodder before she died quickly.
Arc names and detailed trigger warnings up to chapter 356, along with some of my commentary per arc under the cut:
1) The First Painting: The Funeral
Vehicle accident (brief mention), Gore, Body horror, Incest (past), Discrimination of those with birth defects, Torture
I really liked the twist of the instance in this one, and Ke Xun's sensitivity to the painting style itself~ Don't understand why the main team didn't even try considering the remains of those who died as offerings.
3) The Third Painting: Breaking Through the Ground
Suicide (implied, direct), Child death (implied), Bullying (mention), Gore
Ahhhh the ones left behind :c
4) The Fourth Painting: Animal World
Fatphobia (mild), Humans as livestock, Eating disorders (anorexia mention), Gore, Breeding of humans, Force feeding, Cockfighting (mention, with humans instead of roosters), Animal abuse, Animal death
Oh nooo Wei Dong you have to see a fat guy naked. Who cares. Also not super happy that the entire female side got wiped out in this one. Not even a fighting chance.
5) The Fifth Painting: Shadow
Age gap (side characters), Gore (mild), Body horror
Not super enthused about Hime's negative after chapter comments about the new participants, Xida picks it up halfway through the arc. At least Guo Lixia is interesting, I like her. I also like Yening Chenyi.
AUTHOR CAN YOU LET A GIRL LIVE?? We really aren't getting any new mainstayers besides Haowen'er huh.
Also tbh with how many new people are added every painting I have a bit of a hard time remembering who is who. What happened to obvious cannon fodder names...
Chi Lei.... :c Don't understand why they didn't guard against a certain character when it was clear they were suspicious. I guess they got ignored like Luo Wei. The painting mechanics in this one are insidious.. Aw Luo Wei :c
Ke Xun finally remembered his arsenal of phones....
10) The Tenth Painting: Inn
Gore (mild), Self harm, Suicide
This particular painting is quite ambitious.... Unsure if it really hit the mark. I quite liked the world building though.
11) The Eleventh Painting: Schrodinger's Cat
Suicide (mention), Animal death (mention, see arc name), Usage of the term "Mentally retarded" (newcomer who's saying what comes to mind), Body horror, Mysoginy (brief), Suicidal thoughts
12) The Twelfth Painting: Restart
Gore (ebola), Suicide (mention), Torture (implied, past), Body horror, Vehicle accident (graphic)
Uhhh. Graphic. Really graphic. Also the 10 chapters of pure brainstorming turned me off of the novel real quick. This is a little too late to be going over all the paintings like this, and the spitballing of multiple ideas that are dismissed is really annoying. I feel like it really showcases that the author is newer to writing. I actively started skimming the chapters to get to the end of it, and it still feels like a net zero informatiom post. The pacing for this is horrible.
13) The Thirteenth Painting: He-He
Gore, Humans as livestock (brief), Force feeding (mention), Torture (mention), Slut shaming, Self harm (brief)
Ke Xun tries to keep Yue Cen, a woman in a wheelchair, from entering the exhibition hall (and thus the painting) by wheeling her wheelchair away initially. She ends up with them anyways 🙂↕️ I like her. Its too late.
I liked the setup for this one, but it would have been better if I hadn't been reading-fatigued by the end of the last arc 😐 I couldn't appreciate it fully.
14) The Fourteenth Painting: Mountains and Seas
Animal death
Ke Xun with the rare confirmed boyfriend butt tattoo.... Wow. It feels like the author is throwing funny stuff out trying to rectify the pacing and its not working.
Thanks for reading my reviewww 💜💜💜 its been a while since I've written a really long one. Woops 😅
I'm back to reread this one! This is also the author of Working Records in a Weird World, which I reviewed last year and loved. I do have fond memories of this novel, and it was one of the first novels I MTL'd most of my way through~ I feel! A little rusty writing this review so bear with me.
Zong Jiu wakes up and realizes that he's transmigrated into Thriller Trainee, a novel about a show contained within an Infinite Loop setting. The side character with his name died miserably on the first night of the instance, and Zong Jiu had decided he didn't need to read any further... He should have read a few more chapters...
Unlike many transmigrators who would have lamented their luck, Zong Jiu is secretly thrilled. Here he may be able to cure his disabled hands and climb the heights of the stage again. Each brush with death brings a chill that delights him. The curtains rise on the renewed performance of the Magician!
But who can tell him where this perverted "destined rival" of his came from?
This novel has a unique setting for Infinite Flows, incorporating a "show" within an already established Infinite Flow setting like some kind of matryoshka doll. The audience for Thriller Trainee are survivors already contained within the brutal Infinite Loop, and most of the participants have signed up to Thriller Trainee in anticipation of some benefits if they survive. To facilitate the first few rounds, the system brought in a bunch of newcomers including Zong Jiu.
The plot really is an exploration of Zong Jiu and the Devil's personalities, how they tick and how they oppose yet attract each other. With the final goal of the Thriller Trainee competition being getting a "Universal Wish Ticket", making sure the right person gets the ticket (and doesn't go to the Devil's hands) is the focus of most of the political maneuvering. While simple, I think the amount of information given to the readers at a time makes everything quite engaging.
Zong Jiu is an interesting creature. He's aloof, cold to others and has little emotion. He has his pride, and while he hides a destructive nature inside him he has restraints to hold him back. These restraints make him particularly interesting, because while he may do things that seem benevolent or good to others in most cases its either him getting back at something, or responding to obligations. I like characters like these, and I really like that true emotions bleed through only when relating to the Devil.
The Devil is! A pervert and doesn't have restraints for the malice that he holds towards the world. He wants enjoyable things, though everything was a little dull until a certain Magician caught his eye. His power being puppet strings makes a lot of the exchanges between him and Zong Jiu interesting, with the added thought always of wondering just who around him is controlled.
The side characters in this novel are great, even if a lot of them don't get names. Xu Su is probably my favourite of the bunch (and he gets the most character development), but I love the entire Class 09 and their dynamic with Zong Jiu makes the First High School arc my favourite out of all of them. My least favourite arc would be Crazy Circus.....
The gore in this novel is! A lot! Its pretty vividly described especially in the first few arcs. The later arcs don't deal with slow deaths as much and ends up being lighter on the horror than the first half. I am actually kind of sad the Punishment Instance arc doesn't live up to the hype, but it was specific for Zong Jiu so I guess I can reluctantly leave it. I find it funny that the nsfw gore of the first 3/4ths of the novel gives way to the nsfw enemies with benefits -> lovers of the last part. Nods sagely. I am not mad about this 🙂↕️
Anyways I do love this novel and I'll definitely reread it again in the far off future, it was worth coming back to. Enemies with a deadly attraction to each other is always super good 🥰🥰 Another banger by Wang Ya. I need to read more from them.
How was the translation? Good. There were some odd word choices between translators, some translator's notes are broken/show up in the main text, only a few typos. Xu Su is written as Xu Shu once. Inconsistent terms: S+ and super S rank, instructor and mentor. In one chapter cola is the direct translation "happy fat water". The memes from Ashen early on are great! Overall not bad at all.
Would I recommend this novel? Yes. Especially if you like another novel I've reviewed, This Damned Thirst for Survival. Very similar dynamic between the two main characters~
Would I reread this novel? Yes~ Of course I would.
Trigger Warnings: Vehicle accident, Gore, Drugs, Psychiatric abuse, Lobotomy, Medical malpractice, Electroshock therapy, Sexual harrassment, Human trafficking, Mysoginy, Domestic violence, Cannibalism, Rape, Torture, Self harm, Suicide, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Humans as livestock*, Breeding of humans*, Human modification*, Infant death*, Eaten alive*, Cults, Human sacrifice, Aphrodisiac curse**
*Crazy Circus has a setting where humans and animals are reversed, so humans are the main livestock...
**Which ends up being Zong Jiu's excuse to finally hatefuck the Devil 🫡 Consent is there, Zong Jiu's just too prideful to ask for it 🙂↕️
Arc names and trigger details under the cut, along with some commentary from me:
Human trafficking (?), Humans as livestock, Breeding of humans (as livestock), Human modification (mention), Infant death (mention), Gore, Torture, Eaten alive, Sexual harrassment (dubious, not dubious), Cults, Human sacrifice, Body horror, Self harm
Basically humans are treated as animals in this instance by animals pretending to be humans, which ends up having a lot of offhand mentions of inhumane treatment 😗 A lot of the breeding and food stuff is really gruesome.
10) Punishment Instance
Aphrodisiac curse (yay zong jiu...), Gore
The consensual hatefuck woooo. These two can't admit they've grown fond of each other. Kind of wish the punishment instance had actually been like, a punishment instance but eh.
11) The Final Battle
Gore (mild)
12) Faust
Self harm (brief), Dubious consent (mild)
13) Extras: After The End
Self harm (brief)
They really do remind me of Jiang Luo and Chi You 🙂↕️ Which is a good thing!! Gimme more o_o
Read all chapters of The S-Classes That I Raised by Geunseo (근서1) from 03/08/2026 to 04/03/2026. The MTL to read the rest of what isn't translated is surprisingly readable. No real review because most of my friends are already reading this and I still kind of need a break. Also I didn't think I would read the MTL when I started. 💜
Would I recommend this novel? Absolutely
Would I reread this novel? Yes.
Han Yoojin is a really special character to me in more ways than one. I was very happy with his entire character arc throughout the novel 🥺
Read up to chapter 370 of Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work by 백덕수 from 03/01/2026 to 03/08/2026.
Holyyyy shit its really good. No review because its in progress, as usual. As of right now it stops at the end of Part 2, so its a good time to get into it! I will be waiting for Part 3 to conclude before rereading. 💜
Dropped My House of Horrors by I Can Fix Air Conditioners at chapter ~180/1211 from 02/02/2026 to 02/28/2026. I've read this novel in the past and quite liked it, but due to personal circumstances I can no longer continue reading it.
