Mangu*************

"The Symbiosis of Mangu" is a refreshing novel on the surface. The protagonist Wei Xin fuses the gourd baby, swallows the mangu monks, and fights monsters along the way to level up. But after reading Chapter 3, you will find that the ambition of this book goes far beyond that. It is essentially a triple jump from the character to the narrative level to the real dimension: Wei Xin is not just fighting in the world, he is fighting with the "people who write this story", negotiating with "the people who read this story", and challenging the production logic of the entire online literature industry. Amazing core settings: Childhood Honkai Impact: Turn the best memories into the most terrifying weapons. The double inversion of the Babi system and The Truman World: the collection process is essentially an allegory of the creative mind. The final reveal of the truth about "The Truman World" brings the book back from meta-narrative to the physical dimension of hard science fiction. This two-layer structure is very clever: you think you are watching the character rebel against the author, but it turns out that the character is even programmed to "rebel". You think you've found the truth, only to find out there's truth outside of it. Just like when Wei Xin smashed the glass dome of the narrative layer, what he saw was not freedom, but another larger breeding farm. Disadvantages: Concepts such as foreshadowing and projection require a certain reading threshold, otherwise it is easy to create a sense of distance that "cannot understand but feels very powerful". The emotional line is light: The relationship between Lin Wan and Wei Xin is mainly about games and tacit understanding, lacking more intimate emotional interaction. Overall, it's not for everyone. It is written for readers who once believed in Calabash Baby, but later grew up and found that they were just a star being fed in The Truman World. We are all Wei Xin. Trapped in some kind of larger breeding farm, you are also devouring other people's stories to fill your own hunger, and you are also waiting for some higher existence, maybe fate, maybe an algorithm, maybe waiting for the person sitting in front of the screen to turn the pages to give you an ending.