[Classic Literature Crossover] Gatsby's Unspeakable Secret

Tixi is the youngest son of the Buchanan family in East Egg, New York. Though sickly from childhood, under his older brother's care he grew up safe and sound into a sweet, kind young man with a romantic, artistic temperament.

The day Gatsby came with his men to take Tixi, he was sculpting in a studio at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Standing before an unfinished statue of David, the impeccably dressed Gatsby said coldly, "Your brother took my Daisy from me, so I'm going to make him suffer the pain of losing the person he loves, too."

Overnight, this beloved prodigy, held in the highest esteem by the art world, became a tool of revenge against his brother's romantic rival.

From then on, all the beauty and dreams the boy had once possessed were devoured by nightmares stained with black mold, amid the lavish, hedonistic parties at Gatsby's mansion.

One day a year later, Gatsby stood by the pool, backlit by the sun, and drew Tixi into his arms. He confessed that he'd fallen in love with him without even realizing it, and hoped Tixi would forgive and accept him.

Tixi looked at Gatsby, tears clinging to his trembling golden eyelashes.

He didn't respond to Gatsby's confession, nor did he tell him that the assassin sent by his brother was standing right behind him.

[Content Warning]

First the love interest suffers, then the protagonist. A groveling redemption arc, happy ending.

[Cover Art] Tu Hua Leyuan: A Sheep

****Coming Soon****

"The Lost Amusement Park"

Eno had never felt terror so deep it seemed to seep into his bones.

He regretted it. He shouldn't have joined the game to scrape together his tuition money. But now there was no escape. Trapped in this hall of mirrors, he could only watch as his body slowly crumbled to dust.

At first glance, the game seemed simple: 121 participants would spend a month at an amusement park on an isolated island in Roanoke. At the end, anyone who chose to leave the island would receive a generous cash prize. (1)

On the day they arrived, Eno met a small, black-haired boy named Wen Rui. A high school graduate, he was very pretty and always seemed innocent and shy. (2)

At their first meeting, Wen Rui clung to him of his own accord. Eno couldn't bring himself to refuse, so the two set off together.

The first three days passed without incident.

But on the fourth day, when the people on the carousel were pierced by blades thrust up through their saddles, Eno realized how terrifying the place was. He could only hide in the amusement park with Wen Rui.

From the bone-filled haunted house to the raging rapids, from the pirate ship gliding through viscous goo to the roller coaster with no end, they faced danger again and again, each ordeal pushing Eno's fraying nerves to the brink of collapse.

"Xiao Rui, don't be scared," Eno said, holding the boy in the hall of mirrors.

"I'm not scared, Brother Eno. Are you?"

"I'm not scared either," Eno said, forcing himself to sound brave.

"But you should be scared." As soon as he finished speaking, Wen Rui's pretty but twisted smile appeared in every mirror in the maze.

(1) Roanoke Island lies in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina. 435 years ago, 121 English colonists and their livestock mysteriously disappeared from the island, including a baby less than two years old. Those who came later searched the island but found no trace of them. At last, they discovered a word carved into the barkless trunk of a tree: Croatoan, the Lost City.

(2) Wen Rui's known full name is Wen Rui Ta'xet. Ta'xet means "violent death" in an Indigenous American language.

Theme: True love is priceless.