They Should Have Shone Brightly, but Were Born at the Wrong Time and Met a Regretful End 他们本应熠熠生辉，却生不逢时，以憾收场

1. 601 开 A Bowl of Wild Greens Soup from the Start, and I Became the Ming Dynasty's Culinary Sage 开局一碗野菜汤，我成了大明厨圣 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三Historical78k WordsCompleted A Bowl of Wild Vegetable Soup from the Start, and I Became the Culinary Sage of the Ming Dynasty 11Reads—Score—Shelves
2. 602 书 Master Calligrapher? Poet Immortal? Chief Minister? That's Right, I'm All of Them 书圣？诗仙？首辅？没错，都是我 Sunlight on the River日照前川Historical834k WordsOngoing In his previous life, Cui Xian was a PhD in Chinese Language and Literature at a top-tier university. In this life, he transmigrated to ancient times, into a poor family with no connections: A destitute home, a pregnant mother, young siblings, an uncle who had failed the exams six times and was hopeless at studying, a grandmother so obsessed with imagining her son placing high in the imperial examinations that she had become delusional, and Cui Xian, who was only eight years old. Cui Xian: This 28.3kReads9.4Score2.7kShelves
3. 603 黄 The Golden Hour: Don't Talk Rules to Me, I Save Lives 黄金一小时：别跟我谈规矩，我只救命 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三64k WordsCompleted The Golden Hour: Don't Talk to Me About Rules, I Only Save Lives 8Reads—Score—Shelves
4. 604 前 My Past Life Exposed: The Entire Nation Weeps 前世曝光：举国泪奔 A Little Little Turtle一只小小的乌龟Urban173k WordsCompleted VR technology advances by leaps and bounds, and the particle soul detector is invented. Humanity rebuilds civilization amid the ruins. Some were merchants in their previous lives, with fortunes vast enough to rival entire nations, and can return to the places where they hid their treasures to dig them up again. Others were scientists, able to rekindle the flames of civilization by watching their memories. A show called Past and Present takes the world by storm. It becomes a ladder to a new desti 507Reads8.5Score—Shelves
5. 605 专 The College Student Who Only Kills Bad People 专杀坏人的大学生 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三46k WordsCompleted A College Student Who Only Kills Bad People 1Reads—Score—Shelves
6. 606 入 Funeral Makeup Artist: After Seeing Karma, I Went on a Killing Spree 入殓师：看见业力后我杀疯了 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三59k WordsCompleted The Mortician: After Seeing Karma, I Went on a Killing Spree 7Reads—Score—Shelves
7. 607 大 A Grand Dream of Return: The Sequel 大梦归离：后传 Kui Xiaohong夔小浲Female-Channel Fanfiction40k WordsCompleted Extra stories and continuation of the TV series "The Legend of Shen Li": [Yuanwen and Qixiang, Liangchen and Meijing, Zhao Yuanxiao, Bai Jiu, Li Lun, Ying Lei, and a happily-ever-after epilogue for everyone] Time flew by. Zhao Yuanzhou had been gone for three years. The torrential rain that lasted three days was both heaven and earth’s mourning, and an unexpected cure for those turned monstrous by Wen Zongyu’s poison arts. The most wicked demon became their salvation. The world was full of surpr 85Reads—Score—Shelves

   Reader note

   The first book almost killed me after I finished reading it... It's a TV series, quite obscure but very well made, except for the ending... So many people, and in the end only three were left: a human, a demon, and a heartbroken Bai Ze goddess... The second book was fanfiction I found on Tomato after watching the TV series, and it made me feel a little better after reading it... [Crying][crying][crying]

8. 608 我 My Superpower Is Spending Money: The More I Spend, the Stronger I Get 我的超能力是花钱，花光就变强 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三47k WordsCompleted My Superpower Is Spending Money: The More I Spend, the Stronger I Get 4Reads—Score—Shelves
9. 609 地 Hell's Deliveryman 地狱外卖员 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三43k WordsCompleted Hell's Deliveryman 13Reads—Score—Shelves
10. 610 修 The Cultivation World’s Most Devoted Master 修界第一深情师父 Chi Wu池污Two Male Leads255k WordsCompleted (From the pursuer's perspective. The first chapter is in first person. Not a power fantasy, more of a slice-of-life story.) My master hated my grandmaster when he was young. [The Immortal Cultivation World's First Sharp-Tongued Contest is now underway!] The things Mu Yunsheng regretted most in his life: 1. Losing to Li Jiu in the Xuanmen competition 2. Finding out after the match that his opponent was sitting below the stage, munching on sunflower seeds and laughing at him 3. Impulsively threate 152Reads8.3Score—Shelves

    Reader note

    That's a perfect match; if they had been given just a little more time, the outcome wouldn't have been like this.

11. 611 炒 The Fried Noodle Stall Owner Is a Former Detective 炒粉摊主是前刑警 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三55k WordsCompleted The Fried Noodle Stall Owner Is a Former Detective 2Reads—Score—Shelves
12. 612 致 The Depressing Literary Master: One Copy of To Live Brought the World to Tears 致郁系文豪，一本活着全球泪崩 A Cat That Can Do Side Flips会侧空翻的猫Urban1.0M WordsCompleted (Parallel World + Rebirth + System + Literary Prodigy + Career + No Over-the-Top Drama + Not a Harem Novel) After leaving the military, Li Liwen, an office worker in a parallel world, had finally gotten his life back on track. But an unexpected industry downturn left him unemployed. The sudden blow triggered a heart attack in a fit of anger. When he woke up, he discovered he had returned to the age of seventeen. That year, he hadn’t even started his second year of high school. Then he stopped ho 26kReads9.2Score1.9kShelves

    Reader note

    Unemployed office worker Li Liwen suffers a heart attack and is reborn at 17, carrying a system and a head full of Earth classics like Sherlock Holmes, No Longer Human, To Live, and The Three-Body Problem. In this parallel world, he unleashes a "literary master's dimensional attack" mode—writing To Live brought readers worldwide to tears, writing The Three-Body Problem ignited a euphoric frenzy in the science fiction world, and writing Sherlock Holmes cemented his status as a legend in the mystery genre… Years later, he became the "King of Short Stories" and the "King of Mystery Fiction," the United Nations designated his birthday as World Book Day, and the literary prize he founded replaced the Nobel Prize as the highest honor in literature!

13. 613 职 Vocational High School's Battle God 职高战神 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三94k WordsCompleted Vocational School's Battle God 3Reads—Score—Shelves
14. 614 收 After Adopting the Down-and-Out Female Lead, I Died Horribly in Front of Her 收养落魄女主后，惨死在她面前 Li Huan离焕Eastern Fantasy1.0M WordsCompleted [In your first simulation, you transmigrate to a cultivation world.] [You become a refugee fleeing famine. Along the way, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her older brother.] [You depend on each other and become one another's only support.] [At the end of the simulation, you shield the grown girl and give your life to hold off a horde of demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in her eyes goes out too.] [In your second simulation, you transmigrate to a world where steam and mag 119.3kReads9.1Score14kShelves
15. 615 我 My Archrival Turned Out to Be the Perfect Lover 我的死对头竟是满分恋人 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三Marriage & Romance90k WordsCompleted My Archrival Turns Out to Be a Perfect Lover 27Reads—Score—Shelves
16. 616 请 Please, Sir, Save Me 请先生救我 A Skiff Glides on the River小河泛轻舟Eastern Fantasy3.1M WordsCompleted A book of forgetting sorrow, a page of breathtaking tales. Its ink is black and white, its stories full of twists and turns. [Page One: How can one cure lovesickness that cuts to the bone? One cup of water that forgets sorrow, and love is severed between you and me.] [Page Two: Where can one seek the path to immortality? In the White Jade Capital in the heavens, with its twelve towers and five cities. Surely the answer lies in the skies.] [Page Three: Your Majesty, what troubles you? Will you 254.2kReads8.8Score37kShelves
17. 617 斩 The Kill Line: I Slay Gods in America 斩杀线之我在美利坚斩神 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三Urban424k WordsCompleted Overnight, Bai Yu loses everything, from Beverly Hills to the hell of Epstein's island. His bank accounts are frozen, the IRS comes knocking, and he is put under surveillance, all because he witnessed the darkest secrets of the powerful. When the law becomes a tool for the hunt, the Chinese have only one choice: blood for blood. This is a life-or-death escape that tears the American Dream apart. In America, when you're below the kill line, you either become prey or become the one who slays gods. 18Reads—Score—Shelves
18. 618 都 The King of Immortals in the City 都市仙王之王 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三Urban1.7M WordsCompleted When Feng Xiaolou was twenty, his parents mysteriously disappeared, leaving him only an oral account of his family's past. The once illustrious Feng clan, a family of cultivators, now had no one but him left to fend for himself. Forced to drop out of school to make ends meet, he scraped by doing odd jobs in Jiangcheng. Starting with the Yin-Yang Mirror, he began his journey from ordinary mortal to peak powerhouse. Guided by the mirror, he took control of Jiangcheng's economic lifelines and estab 39Reads8.8Score—Shelves
19. 619 为 To Save My Sister, I Entered the Forbidden Zone of Spirit Artifacts 为救妹妹，我踏足灵物禁区 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三Urban594k WordsCompleted My little sister is on the brink of death, and the astronomical cost of her medicine has pushed me to my breaking point. Then I discovered that there was something in this world called spirit relics. They can grant wishes, but they always demand a price. And I can see the threads of that price. I traded a Republic-era copper lock for a chance at survival, and bartered with a warped set of scales for a life-saving prescription. The black-market hunters see me as easy prey, while medical giants wa 37Reads7.7Score—Shelves
20. 620 从 Taking Control of the World, Starting with the Patrol Office 从巡检司开始掌控天下 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三Eastern Fantasy2.2M WordsCompleted The protagonist, Wang Shisan, is a low-ranking ninth-grade patrol officer in the Yuwo Patrol Office of Luzhou. From the government offices to the martial world, he uses his blade and his wits to break through deadlocks, unite forces, and climb step by step. In the end, he overthrows the decaying imperial regime and ascends the throne. Ruling the world is not his final goal. Leading his loyal and valiant followers, he conquers the globe and puts an end to war through war, until the Dragon Banner 257Reads8.6Score—Shelves
21. 621 一 A Ringing Bell: Calling the Dead from the Locust Shade 一声铃：我在槐荫里给死人打电话 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三23k WordsCompleted A Ringing Bell: I Make Phone Calls to the Dead in Huaiyin Lane 16Reads—Score—Shelves
22. 622 检 My Prosecutor Brother Was Brutally Murdered, So I Buried the Entire Criminal Underworld with Him 检察官弟弟惨死，我让整个黑恶势力陪葬 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三41k WordsCompleted My Prosecutor Brother Was Brutally Murdered, So I Made the Entire Criminal Underworld Pay 3Reads—Score—Shelves
23. 623 赶 Corpse-Driving Rules: The Eighteen Forbidden Charms of Chenzhou 赶尸守则：辰州符十八禁 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三34k WordsCompleted Corpse-Driving Rules: Eighteen Taboos of the Chenzhou Talismans 1Reads—Score—Shelves
24. 624 盐 Dragging the Salt Kiln God: Ten Rules for the Sedan Chair Bearers 盐灶拖神：扶轿人十不准 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三23k WordsCompleted The Salt Kiln’s Spirit Escort: Ten Rules for the Palanquin Bearers 2Reads—Score—Shelves
25. 625 规 Rule Horror: The Comic Strip Rules of Room 601 规则怪谈：601室的连环画守则 I Am Wang Shisan在下王十三28k WordsCompleted Rule Horror: The Comic-Strip Rules of Room 601 —Reads—Score—Shelves
26. 626 末 Wildflowers Bloom at the World's End 末日野草开花 Bian Fu边福Urban2.7M WordsOngoing Order collapsed in an instant. The neon lights of civilization were swallowed by the wasteland of the apocalypse, and simply staying alive became the most extravagant stroke of luck. Chen Mingfei never imagined he would be swept into a catastrophe engulfing the entire world. From a frantic fight for life and death in a hospital to the despairing struggle to survive in a dead, empty city, he is forced to wage a long and brutal battle with death amid the ruins. Here, suffocating cold snaps and na 2kReads—Score197Shelves

    Reader note

    He sounds like the second male lead.

27. 627 灰 Notes from the Gray Tower 灰塔笔记 An Empty Lamp Drifting Far空灯流远Two Male Leads120k WordsCompleted Born with an inescapable gift for mathematics, the genius codebreaker is swept into the maelstrom of war. A trusted confidant uses them, and the friend who has always stood by their side betrays them. “I” am a “tool” for an intelligence agency, tasked with deciphering military codes, and a “pawn” in political struggles. At the same time, “I” uncover a lead concerning my mother, who died long ago. To find out what happened to her, “I” have no choice but to keep it from everyone and secretly conta 1.8kReads9.5Score666Shelves

    Reader note

    A masterpiece! Oh my god!

28. 628 银 When the Ginkgo Leaves Fall 银杏落下时 Wanyan Yuning完颜雨凝Two Male Leads62k WordsCompleted [If you enjoy this, please leave lots of comments and ratings. Love you!] #BoysLove #Angst #Tragedy #BEAesthetic #Realistic #MutualDevotion #UnforgettableRegret #ConversionTherapy #DoubleDeath At nineteen, Cheng Ye and Lu Ming thought love could conquer everything. A ginkgo-leaf bookmark, two handmade rings, and a promise to go south. They ran away together on a rainy night and kissed beneath a bridge, believing that if they went far enough, they could reach a future of their own. But their pa 323Reads—Score—Shelves

    Reader note

    They could have had bright futures, but because they were misunderstood and rejected, in the end they could only... [Crying][crying]

29. 629 重 Reborn as Fan Jin, I Will Become the Top Scholar 重生范进，我要做状元 100 Million Readers1亿在读Historical573k WordsCompleted Fan Jin passed the imperial examination, a tragic little man mocked for over a thousand years! A top lawyer transmigrates as Fan Jin, but refuses to meekly accept his fate. He uses his wits to change it. Financial leverage earns him his first fortune. Three years of exam prep and five years of practice exams: bringing a little workaholic shock to the ancient examination hall. Those who once looked down on Fan Jin and mocked him will be trampled underfoot. Fan Jin has only one goal: To become the 277Reads8.4Score—Shelves

    Reader note

    When the imperial examination madman, ridiculed for over a thousand years, is reborn, and the soul of a top lawyer is infused into Fan Jin's body, this timeless reversal begins. He uses modern wisdom to challenge ancient rules, wielding his pen as a sword amidst ridicule and contempt, determined to rewrite the satirical label of "Fan Jin passing the imperial examination."

30. 630 异 A Long Journey in Another World 异界旅途漫漫 The Mountain Moon Knows Not of You山月不知君Eastern Fantasy1.0M WordsOngoing [No System + Original Story + Ensemble Cast + No Brain-Dead Characters + Fast-Paced + Pure Romance] I’m dedicated to creating a different kind of world and bringing everyone a fresh new thrill, along with a more realistic experience! The rain fell without letup, day after gloomy day. Beneath the curtain of rain... Travelers from another world, I’d like you to finish this terrible game of chess for me. Anyone can be a chess piece, anyone can be sacrificed. All living beings are players in this ga 5.8kReads—Score334Shelves

    Reader note

    It begins as a comedy and ends as a tragedy. Absolutely fantastical! If you don't like it, I'll eat it! I'm recommending this isekai novel to my family—it's incredibly good, with a thrilling plot, cleverly logical plot twists, and exquisite aesthetics. It's definitely the most worthwhile novel to read this year.

31. 631 真 Fake Heiress? No, I’m the Nation’s Sheepdog 真假千金？不，我是国家牧羊犬 Feng Tianyin风天音Sci-Fi & Apocalypse1.2M WordsCompleted (No catfights between the real and fake heiresses. They get along peacefully.) Think carefully: during all your years at school, was there someone in your class who kept to themselves, got average grades, faded into the background, and avoided socializing? If so, don’t doubt it: they might have been a “sheepdog.” When the truth from sixteen years ago was laid before Meng Lan, she refused to accept it. What was all this nonsense about a real and fake heiress? These people were clearly after her g 16.4kReads9.2Score1.3kShelves

    Reader note

    She was just a minor.

32. 632 摇 A Leaf Falls 摇落一片叶 Spring Comes Three Times, Yet Knows No Snow三春不知雪8k WordsCompleted A Leaf Falls 1Reads—Score—Shelves

    Reader note

    Yeah, they were all geniuses, but in the end, only one little kid remained on the team. [Crying]

33. 633 末 The Villainess of the Apocalypse Fights Back 末世恶女要翻身 Doha Loves Wahaha多哈爱喝娃哈哈Sci-Fi & Apocalypse107k WordsCompleted Hua Rong has always wanted Yan Qijin to fall in love with her, but what comes easily is never appealing, and what she can’t have is always on her mind. Just as the apocalypse arrives, Hua Rong, who has no moral boundaries to speak of, finally lets loose. From the start, she shoves Yan Qijin’s beloved into a horde of zombies, then relentlessly torments Yan Qijin until his family is destroyed. PS: Some parts of this novel are extremely intense. The values depicted in the story do not represent th 73Reads—Score—Shelves
34. 634 撷 The Journey to Win Your Heart 撷君行 Stay Together Forever常相守Eastern Fantasy201k WordsOngoing Time’s wheels roll ever onward into the mid-Tang era. On this land shrouded by evil spirits, the people suffer while no one comes to their aid. Only Sun A Shi, the Medicine King, leads his disciples in searching for the secret to driving the evil spirits away. Three couples among the Medicine King’s disciples, Jiang Ze and Jiegeng, Gancao and Guizhi, and Doukou and Didi, hold fast to their faith in battle and never give up in the face of hardship. Like dancers, they weave love and hate into a ma 126Reads—Score—Shelves

    Reader note

    "I wish you would gather more of these, for they are the most cherished symbol of longing": "Xie Xie Jun Xing" is another masterpiece of fictional epic following "Chang'an's Lychees" and "Venus is a Bit Annoying." The story begins in the absurdity of the late Tang Dynasty. Although it lacks the experience of author Ma Boyong, it presents the characters of the three realms—immortals, humans, and demons—from the perspective of "working class," revealing the inner monologues of each character rather than rigid good and evil! It truly interprets the boundary between right and wrong as a difference in perspective, and each character is a significant figure in the long river of history.

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