Addicted to Day Jobs, I Became a God: My Years in Sanhe

Lin Mo, a former internet-industry elite, steps into the legendary “Sanhe” of his own accord, carrying a trace of rebellion and confusion after a long run of career burnout and setbacks in life. He hopes to find release amid these spiritual ruins. He means to be a cool-headed observer, but is quickly swallowed up by the survival philosophy of “work one day, play for three.” Here, he meets his enigmatic guide, “Brother Ji,” witnesses someone sell their ID card for a bowl of instant noodles, and sees a companion go to prison after becoming a company’s legal representative for just five hundred yuan. From sleeping in internet cafes, surviving on five-yuan “gutter noodles” and drinking four-yuan “God’s happy water,” to struggling to get by through group meals and “opening loot boxes,” Lin Mo sinks deeper and deeper into the mire of the underclass. He examines this distorted world with a clear gaze, yet hopelessly gives himself over to the fleeting “comfort” he has bought with his freedom. This is a brutal coming-of-age story that begins with self-exile and ends with an interrogation of the soul. As Lin Mo is about to be swallowed up completely by this quagmire, he must answer one question: Will he accept his fate and become a living corpse known as a “God,” or will he summon the last of his strength, awaken from this suffocating nest of comfort, and redeem himself?