Infinite-Flow Brainstorms

[My writing isn't good enough, so I'm setting this idea aside for now. I'll practice, then start a new story and rewrite it from scratch. Bows.]

Question: You wake up in a new world. How do you bravely face it?

Follow-up question: Ahhhhh, damn it, there are ghosts in this world too!!

GM: Greetings, esteemed player. Welcome to the beta test of the game "Brave the One Hundred Floors." Please make your way down, stay alive, and clear the game. The next hero could be you.

Zhong Li woke from his sleep to find a friendly, welcoming ghost face right in front of him.

Very friendly and welcoming. The sort of face that made you want to wash it with your spit.

Amid the screams rising and falling outside the door, Zhong Li raised a hand to greet it and calmly said, "...Hey, could you move aside? I need to use the bathroom."

He caught the female ghost's claw as it swung toward him, listened to the so-called GM's game introduction, jumped out of bed, grabbed a crowbar from the corner, and physically beat the ghost out of existence.

He opened the door, took up the banner of leadership, and led his good teammates, bad teammates, and somewhere-in-between teammates down the road to victory.

Zhong Li thought this would be a difficult journey he'd have to make all alone. But during his third instance, a month later...

Someone shielded him, holding him beneath a burning, scorching embrace. The arm around him was steady and strong, making his heart... flutter.

*

Everyone who first met Zhong Li thought he was a limited-edition little ball of sunshine, whose light would burn out before long.

Until they saw him physically exorcise a female ghost, slice an evil god's statue to pieces, and force a ghost bride to become a nun...

Onlookers: Excuse us.

The stars in the sky are fake, the hardships you've experienced are fake, your death is...

Stoic, proper, wolfdog top x gambler, sunny-on-the-surface, dark-underneath bottom

Theme: Never stop looking for hope in adversity. Sometimes, just when everything seems lost, a way forward appears.