The uncanny descends. Two hundred countries around the world each select a chosen one to livestream their way through challenges. Failure means their nation’s fortune declines.
Jiang Huai of the Dragon Nation receives the golden finger “Thief,” which randomly steals one item from a dungeon every twenty-four hours. Its absurdity is off the charts.
The thirty dungeons, including a school, a ghost bride, and a town of paper figures, each have three to seven rules, some true and some false. Break one, and you die.
Along the way, Jiang Huai steals bizarre items such as a school beauty’s white stockings and a ghost bride’s bellyband. He stirs up trouble and teases the uncanny, recruiting NPCs like a top student who is an uncanny being and a ghost child as his underlings. Chosen ones from ten countries, including his teammates Su Ke and Tang Shuang, get tricked into becoming his tools.
The Dragon Nation’s command room steps in to save the day three times, while the livestream chat’s resident fact-checkers provide real-time commentary.
As the dungeons progress, Jiang Huai discovers that all the rule-based uncanny beings are creations of the Lord of the Uncanny, who writes novels, and that his thieving ability is the reader’s monthly vote.
In the final dungeon, “Author’s Backstage,” he steals the mastermind’s keyboard and rewrites the global uncanny into a happy ending. He leads all the chosen ones home, sending his nation’s fortune soaring, but a black cat sets its sights on him, foreshadowing a sequel.
Absurd humor and brisk, satisfying pacing.
