After Entering a Cyberpunk Game, I Killed the Boss and Claimed the Throne

[I’ve been informed about the incident involving trolls in the comments, and I sincerely apologize to everyone. The inappropriate text in the blurb has been removed. A detailed announcement is in the author’s note for Chapter 1. 2026.04.05]

[Updates on the simplified Chinese print edition: See Weibo @An Bai ANBAI. The second volume of the simplified Chinese edition was released on August 22, 2025.]

The cyberpunk game with cosmic horror elements, Crimson Earth, is about to be released.

Kui Xin got incredibly lucky and was selected as a beta tester for Crimson Earth.

But things took a bizarre turn, and she realized she wasn’t playing some holographic game at all. She had transmigrated to a parallel world that truly existed.

In forests of steel and iron, people struggled to survive, while the powerful raised their glasses beneath the neon lights.

Conglomerates controlled the lifeblood of the economy, and a super artificial intelligence watched everyone’s every move.

Superpowered individuals, cyborgs, secret cults, and mutants took the stage…

The moment Kui Xin logged into the game, she had a feeling she was in serious trouble.

Question: What should you do when you discover that your in-game identity is a federally wanted criminal, and you’re also a mole in the government’s investigative agency?

Answer: The most dangerous place is the safest. Put on a show of investigating yourself, then look for a chance to fake your death and disappear.

…

Name: Kui Xin

Identity: A mole sent by a rebel organization to infiltrate the federal investigative agency.

Mission: Stay alive and level up.

After reading the mission, Kui Xin decided that wasn’t good enough.

Being a double agent was a dead-end job. Just staying alive and leveling up wasn’t exciting at all. She wanted to do something big.

Like taking out the boss and claiming their position. That sounded thrilling.

…

[Reader’s Guide]

1. If you’re rereading, don’t spoil anything. There’s little romance, and to preserve the story experience, I won’t reveal who the love interest is. This isn’t a romance where readers place bets on potential couples. It’s a serious, plot-driven story, and the characters’ endings will depend on how the story unfolds. This is a romance novel; it has been tagged as romance since it began in July 2021, and it is not a no-romance story. Ship whoever you like. There is an official pairing, but the author ships the heroine with everyone. It’s a slow burn, with the early chapters focusing more on exploration, solving mysteries, and character growth.

2. Superpowers exist in this world. This is my take on cyberpunk, with only a small amount of cosmic horror. You can understand the story without knowing these genres, but I recommend looking them up to make the story more immersive and enjoyable. This is not traditional cosmic horror or traditional science fiction. I only borrow some elements to establish the basic framework and worldbuilding.

3. The story follows two timelines in parallel and only covers what the heroine experiences over seven weeks. The ending is open. This is an unconventional fourth-type disaster story: the players transmigrate as a group and travel back and forth between two worlds.

4. The parallel world is fictional; don’t compare it to reality. If you’re particular about characters’ morals, or expect the protagonists to meet certain ethical standards, this isn’t for you. The characters’ views do not represent the author’s.

5. Don’t mention other people’s novels in my comments, and don’t mention my novel in other people’s comments. Please respect one another. Thanks. Keep the discussion friendly and civil, and no personal attacks. I hope everyone can enjoy the story in a harmonious atmosphere.

…

[An introduction to cyberpunk, from Baidu Encyclopedia]

Cyberpunk is a portmanteau of “cybernetics” and “punk,” and is also known in Chinese as “cyberpunk.”

Cyberpunk works are generally set in a world where “low life and high technology” coexist. They typically feature advanced science and technology contrasted with a society in a state of partial collapse. Their visuals are striking and varied, featuring things like neon lights on the streets, distinctive street advertisements, and skyscrapers, usually in black, purple, green, blue, and red.

The stories are set in societies whose order is tightly controlled by governments, conglomerates, or secret organizations, while the protagonist exploits loopholes to make some kind of breakthrough.

Cyberpunk plots typically revolve around conflicts between hackers, artificial intelligence, and large corporations. They are set on a dystopian Earth in the near future, rather than in outer space as in early cyberpunk. The genre represents an improvement on earlier science fiction, which often failed to give information technology concrete detail.

[An introduction to the Cthulhu Mythos, from Baidu Encyclopedia]

The Cthulhu Mythos is a fictional literary universe based on the works of American author H. P. Lovecraft and created by many writers. A recurring theme in Lovecraft’s works is humanity’s insignificance in the universe and the pursuit of knowledge that ends in catastrophe. Humanity is often constrained by powerful beings or other cosmic forces. These beings are not so much malicious as indifferent to humanity. Lovecraft called this view “Cosmicism.” Ultimately, humanity is alone in an indifferent universe and incapable of protecting itself. In a vast universe without reason or purpose, the laws and ideas humanity understands and defines are meaningless. Humanity is insignificant, the gods are invincible, people cannot comprehend the universe, and objective laws are not subject to human will.

Theme: Never give up; pursue freedom