Starry Flakes Collection: Tender Memories in the Claw Machine
At 3:17 p.m. on June 18, 20XX, Lin Yao stood at the edge of a seventeenth-floor rooftop, overwhelmed by a tide of failures. His sales were at zero, the training company had fled with its clients’ money, his job at the bubble tea shop was going badly, and a WeChat message from his mother became the final straw. Just as he was utterly desperate, a bizarre pop-up appeared on his phone. Almost as if possessed, he tapped it and was swept into the Star Crown Claw Machine System.
Inside the System, Lin Yao met its assistant, Mianmian, and learned that he had been bound to the Star Crown Claw Machine Martial Soul. To complete his tasks, he would have to reason through obsessions and heal emotional wounds. During his beginner mission, he faced the brightest moments of his past and successfully caught the doll representing his despair, unlocking a skill and awakening his instinct for deduction.
Later, Lin Yao awoke in the System’s buffer pod and learned how it worked. He would be sent back to 7 a.m. on June 18 in the real world, where he had to complete a side quest involving an interview for a civilian criminal-investigation position. A campus locked-room case born of obsession also awaited him. When an unfamiliar text message arrived, his deductive instincts kicked in, and a glimmer of hope returned to his eyes.
He understood that the System had not chosen him: he had seized his last chance. This time, he would not only survive, but use the Star Crown Claw Machine to grab the truths hidden in people’s obsessions, heal hearts that had never found closure, and begin his journey of deduction and healing.
