On Practicing the Sunflower Seed Manual

[Luo Xin's Otherworldly Wanderings: Shenanigans and Campfires]

Luo Xin claps his hands in sudden realization. "Friends, when you're out in the world, it's easy to fool a fellow countryman, but foreigners are even easier to fool. Hahaha!"

His many friends: ... Are you even human? (Damn Chinese people, go to hell!)

Luo Xin reflects. "Huh, I guess I'm not."

First life, just after the college entrance exam.

Luo Xin, born with white hair because of an illness, thinks his life is going smoothly. He's just a slightly more eccentric, easygoing young man with too much free time and a love of fun.

Sometimes he wonders why an orphan born into poverty like him isn't the protagonist.

Well, ever since he died saving someone's life...

Second life, congratulations, you're now a half-step grandmaster.

Luo Xin accidentally ends up in a martial arts world. After wishing on every star in the sky, he finally has a father. But even the world's greatest expert, a brocade-clad Imperial Guard, has to watch his imperial employer's mood and live the miserable life of a wage slave.

Imperial Guard, wage slave, Luo Xin sighs. "Just getting by and having a place of my own in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen... It's really so hard."

Perhaps his imperial employer is generous and kind. With one ruthless sword strike, he happily sends Luo Xin on to his next life.

Third life, the years it takes an old log to become a god are a butcher's knife. You either explode in silence or become more and more twisted in silence.

Luo Xin is on the verge of a billion-point breakdown. My mom really does love me, but what kind of protagonist gets tossed around between lives and keeps ending up as a wage slave in ancient, medieval-style societies without phones?!

A day as a notorious legendary fish-selling pirate in Viking Norway.

The universe's World Tree, which has no set form, becomes his mother. After becoming the tree's child for the second time, Luo Xin is happy to lie flat. When he's tired, he can go back to work as a teacher to perk himself up!

Jianmu, god among humans, Luo Xin lets out a long sigh and realizes a moment later: "How did I end up in this world that's a huge mix of mythology and aliens?"

Who knew it was so hard to be a god in Asgard? There are more than enough scenes of dutiful fathers and loving sons.

Once he finishes with the divine realm, where there's no pay or future, Luo Xin packs his bags at top speed and hurries back to the Earth those gods look down on, to keep living a leisurely life.

Luo Xin says, exasperated, "Nobody's stopping me from going home and living as a human! Only fools want a god's miserable life..."

A new world of trouble in a distinctive parallel universe. Damn, it's a literary brawl!

A missing-person notice in Berlin, Germany leads Luo Xin by chance to another terrible, brand-new otherworld. On the question of willingly joining a faction, an ability-wielding doctor still within his probationary period has arrived!

The horror of war has turned almost everyone into cold-blooded lunatics.

[My patient and friend, don't you seem to need an all-knowing psychiatrist?]

In life three-point-five, I'm ditching you, bros! A business trip to London to rescue a lackey, then a stopover in New Mexico to work as a research advisor.

Iron Man, his confidant in Hawaii; the excellent student Miss Jane; and his foolish former student Thor: "Teacher, so your interstellar travel plans were supposed to happen right here on this godforsaken Earth?!"

Luo Xin smiles. "..." (His fists are itching. He's ready to punch and kick.)

Loki, who more or less knows the whole story and will eventually take part in getting to the bottom of it, collapses and rubs his forehead. "Sigh, my foolish brother."

A day trip to Odin's Vault. He happily picks up an egg [soul-split version]. So, I had a son in my spare time.

Luo Xin is thrilled. "Hahaha, otherworlds are great! I'm going to become a legendary dragon-riding tree-knight!"

A new-world search for his son.

A tale of Luo Xin, his new adoptive father, hoping his son will become a great man and support him in old age, only for the silly fantasy creature to run away from home of its own accord.

Luo Xin chases after him without giving up, while looking for his patient friend and following the rules of a respectable citizen enjoying the pleasures of Paris.

Luo Xin is shocked and furious when he accidentally runs into people everyone has "mocked and betrayed." "I want to file a real-name report against that heartless, exploitative company in Berlin!! Damn my former colleagues, every last one of them is a treacherous bastard! God might be merciful, but I sure as hell am not!"

Heinrich Heine, one of the world's seven most famous traitors, sighs. "Dear doctor, calm down."

Under a clear blue sky, after parting ways following the Snowpiercer, Luo Xin sets off with his luggage. By chance, he meets the well-traveled Russian Yukiji and is invited to the Far East to watch a documentary.

Perhaps he fails to find his foolish son's golden shadow, but along the way he happily wanders around Yokohama, picking up the sunny little "Doudou" as a sidekick. He spends three days living with a familiar French kid.

He wanders through the back streets of Tokyo and goes with people he has hooked to Yokohama for some fun. At some point, Luo Xin cheerfully modifies the underlying code, hits everyone he sees, works as a leisurely curse-spirit "janitor," and, having had his fill of fun, picks up his foolish son.

The future epilogue of life three.

Luo Xin's friends: meeting a New York family tutor for the first time, and a high school student, Spider-Man, who can fly through the sky at any time. He wanders through a chaotic parallel world, full of disasters, while taking exams.

A true war is cold and merciless, with three sides locked in a standoff. Even so, Peter, you still have to go to school.

Later, Peter Parker struggles to put his feelings into words. "Teacher Vilo... he might, maybe, possibly, I think, be a normal person (?)"

Europe's full of trouble. Gods, ghosts, whatever, if you show up, get lost.

A crazy teacher's inhuman ability to act: "Whoever dares lay a hand on my students, I'll blow you all up. Let's go drink tea together in hell, hahaha!"

Later, Luo Xin grins and plays dumb. "I don't know."

Just got home, and somehow gathered all seven gems to summon a dragon (?)

What does it mean to be true to yourself? When he has time, he leaves Earth and flies across the universe. When his foolish student causes trouble and goes missing, he storms the Galactic God-Slaying Tribunal and clashes head-on with them to rescue the student, as lightning strikes.

Luo Xin is at a loss for words. The villains in the galaxy who need to be taught a lesson really do grow faster than chives. Just cut down one crop, and another sprouts.

After many years of wandering, there are Luo Xin's no-surprise birthday party where he demands gifts, and all the fun times traveling around Asgard with his friends.

Expected to wrap up in one hundred chapters this year.

Extras to be determined: old stories from Berlin over pancakes; why Teacher Gojo's friend is so strange; and the New York Avengers superheroes gathering for a wood-chopping arc.

Mostly original, with a smaller portion of various anime and Marvel fanfiction. The perspective stays fixed on the protagonist's journey, and there are lots of happy endings.

Original characters may be out of character. If you don't like that, don't read, and don't insult the protagonist!! Irregular updates, average writing, and a free story focused solely on filling in plot holes. Everything else is out of my hands. Lots of original worldbuilding [a whole lot; anything could happen].

Theme: One person's happiness, Bengbu afterword