A story of redemption that "uses love as a blade and life as a scale, weighing cause and effect in the ashes of time."
Original work: Slay the Gods
Author: Sanjiu Yinyu
Pairings:
Wang Mian as the male lead (he appears later, but will get plenty of screen time, emotional depth, and character development, making him a thoroughly deserving male lead)
Shen Qingzhu and Cao Yuan have feelings for the female lead (their romantic subplots will make them more swoon-worthy characters, but they won't suffer for love)
Zhou Ping (not sure if he counts as a pairing, so feel free to decide for yourself)
(My personal affection ranking: Zhou Ping ≈ Shen Qingzhu > Wang Mian > Cao Yuan > Whirlpool. If I mess up a character or deliberately torment them, I'll kill myself, so don't worry.)
Premise: Set in a game, with an original female protagonist who works as a game tester. The characters from Slay the Gods are all game characters. On the surface, this is a story about a tester falling in love with fictional characters and defying fate to change their lives. The deeper story will be revealed later (possibly with multiple twists).
Style: I'll do my best to match Sanjiu's writing style, though it will change as the story progresses. The current outline has three volumes, about 200 chapters and 1.2 million Chinese characters.
Volume One: Trapped in Time (estimated chapters 1-25):
As a high-dimensional game tester, the female protagonist must find a sense of belonging and a "home" in the Nightfall Squad, and discover that she loves Wang Mian. Only then can her dimensional descent and emotional ascension make sense. The underlying tone is somber.
Volume Two: A Feather's Haven (estimated chapters 26-150):
Training camp life + joining the Masked Squad to fight monsters and clear dungeons. Expect the four original Nightfall members to have plenty of hilariously dumb daily antics, Whirlpool playing wingman and getting himself into trouble, Moon Ghost being tsundere and snarky, and the female protagonist and Wang Mian having an intense push-and-pull rivalry that slowly turns into affection.
Volume Three: Warmth in the Ashes (estimated chapters 151-200):
Multiple foreshadowed plot points come together, with a barrage of tearjerking moments. It's about someone deciding to trade the traces of their own existence for the stars of another world to shine forever.
Promises: Deep respect for the original work, a solid understanding of the characters, and every relationship will serve the characterization. No fawning, no childishness, no Mary Sue.
Theme: Explore "the meaning of sacrifice, the forms existence can take, and why life fights on."
