Ferry Roulette

If something made up feels real, isn't it real after all?

Aboard the luxurious ocean liner Chuan An, sailing across the open sea, dazzling gold coins are stacked in neat piles inside equally opulent halls. Fine food, beautiful people, and breathtaking scenery are nothing more than the everyday embellishments of life here: a world of drunken extravagance, where life feels like a dream.

Seated casually beside the bar on the deck, Sen Yu idly toys with a stemmed glass half-filled with golden liquor, his face hidden behind a mask.

"Still not used to it?" Ni Shang walks over and lays a hand on his shoulder. "This is the Ferry Roulette."

"I never will. Not ever."

Sen Yu tips his head back and downs the half-glass of liquor, then slams it onto the bar with a bang. He gets up and walks away after tossing out one last line.

"I dream of this hellhole being destroyed."

-

"Honored guests, players of the Ferry Roulette."

"Welcome to Fabrication Island."

"Remember this:"

"If you tell a lie as though it's true, then it's true."

Ni Shang x Sen Yu

Two fellow patients

Reader's guide:

1. Infinite-flow story, a little wordy, with a long word count and a slow pace.

2. The final line of the blurb is from Qian Zhongshu's The Pipe and the Awl.

3. Updates five days on, one day off.

Theme: Cherish life and love living.