Abandoned Ideas Recycling Center

The things you abandon while writing do not disappear.

Those ideas you deleted, like "the protagonist is actually the villain," the "time loop" you gave up on after three chapters because it felt too clichéd, the "awakening of supernatural powers" you cut because it would not pass censorship, and the "what if the moon cracked in half" you scribbled on a sticky note and crumpled up on a whim: they all have weight. They fall downward, slipping through the gaps between paper, screens, and keyboards, all the way to the abyss of discarded drafts at the bottom of the world.

Countless recycling stations stand in the abyss. Chen Xu is the sole administrator of Station 404. His daily work is to sort abandoned settings: repair what can be fixed, shred what cannot, and lock anything particularly dangerous in a black cabinet. He has done the job for seven years without a single mistake.

Until one day, a piece of kraft paper came down the conveyor belt. It bore just four words: Protagonist of This Book.

The instructions consisted of a single line: Stick this on any target to make them the protagonist of this book. Once attached, it cannot be removed.

And there was one warning, repeated three times: Do not use on yourself.

Chen Xu stuck it on his own employee badge.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.