Shen Ye, unable to find any meaning in life,
accidentally boarded a train bound for Wuyou Island.
There, he saw an unfamiliar world upon the water,
where value determined everything.
To survive, Shen Ye had to clear seven instances born from real-life hardships:
work that never ends,
mortgages,
romance and marriage,
raising children,
providing for the elderly, and more.
Qi Yuan, an executor of the System,
saved Shen Ye when he fell into the water.
As they spent time together,
Qi Yuan discovered that Shen Ye’s injuries made his heart ache.
Shen Ye, too, saw how Qi Yuan always protected him when danger struck.
Without meaning to, Shen Ye accepted the parts of Qi Yuan that he despised in himself, without conditions.
After breaking the rules repeatedly,
Qi Yuan became a player.
As they cleared the instances,
they uncovered that the two had been partners three thousand years ago.
To protect Shen Ye,
Qi Yuan had willingly sacrificed himself to become fuel for the System,
and clearing the instances was consuming him.
In the end,
Shen Ye realized that the meaning of life was life itself.
You are not loved because you have value.
He refused to let Qi Yuan sacrifice himself to earn love,
and chose to face the System’s attacks together with him.
The two successfully escaped the instances.
Theme: A life does not have to be valuable to be meaningful. Even if all you enjoy is eating, sleeping, and taking walks... those can be another kind of meaning in life. There is no standard for how life should be lived. Your existence itself is the meaning of everything. When you can calmly embrace meaninglessness, you gain the greatest sense of security in the world, and can feel more unconditional love than anywhere else.
