One More Time

Next novel in the same genre: Born Toward the Sun, a narcissistic self-salvation story. The blurb is at the end.

Here is this novel's blurb:

[Complete]

After a grueling day at work, 25-year-old Ji Tan opened a once-popular online game from ten years ago. He assumed that after a decade, there wouldn't be many real players left, and that reopening the game was just a way to relive old memories.

But he met a 17-year-old boy.

The 17-year-old was full of youthful confidence, saying that he would become an outstanding esports player one day, because he had already received an invitation to join the GC esports club.

Ji Tan, 25, looked at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror and thought of how life had worn down his edges. Remembering what he had said when he was 17, he smiled silently.

One day, the boy's account sent 25-year-old Ji Tan a video. In it, the boy was curled up in a corner, his eyes bloodshot, his lowered arm trembling.

Ji Tan reached through the screen to touch the boy's bleeding lip. Then he lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing before 17-year-old Ji Tan. As a group of punks stared in shock, he held out his hand to the boy on the ground. This time, I'll walk every road with you.

--"I just want to know why you helped me get out of that quagmire."

--"Who told you I was saving you? I was saving myself. From beginning to end, that's all."

2023/11/16

Important: Here's something important. I'm looking for a new title. My dears, I plan to change it in a few days to something more straightforward.

Reader's guide: 1. Narcissistic romance, the protagonist falls in love with himself.

++++++2. Some parts take place at school, but please don't compare them to real life.

++++++3. Some plot points may involve depression. Please don't read too much into them.

++++++4. This is a story of mutual salvation.

++++++5. Amateur writing, melodramatic plot, slow burn. Please don't flame me.

++++++6. After they meet, they are XD (blended family).

7. More to come if I think of anything...

1. Born Toward the Sun

Before he turned eighteen, Qi Xiangyang had no name. The people around him called him a jinx.

Just as his name suggests.

From the time he could remember, he fought stray dogs for food. Everyone and everything connected to him ended up injured or dead. Nothing ever turned out well.

After turning eighteen, Qi Xiangyang was called a bastard, trash, and a pitiful nobody.

At the same time, he gained the identity he had dreamed of before turning eighteen: a student at the First Star System Military Academy and a candidate for commander of the First Star System Legion.

But his family still saw him as an ill omen.

Even so, Qi Xiangyang still believed he simply hadn't tried hard enough.

Then pirates from an alien power targeted his family, intent on seizing their mines in an outer star system.

Qi Xiangyang volunteered. At the most critical moment of the battle against the pirates, his family cut off all his support.

After holding on desperately for half a month, he closed his eyes, full of resentment.

When he regained consciousness, he heard a vendor shouting nearby and smelled something rotten.

The instant he opened his eyes, he saw a little boy gripping a sharp stone and bringing it down hard on the man opposite him. Without thinking, he threw his arms around the boy.

The boy glared at him. "Mind your own business."

Qi Xiangyang felt nothing but heartache. He had no doubt that the boy before him was his younger self. "I'm not interfering. You're my little brother, and I'm your big brother."

"I don't have a big brother." The boy was wary, and the stone in his hand was aimed at the temple of the boy holding him.

"You do. Your surname is Qi, and your name is Qi Xiangyang."

"Then what about you?"

"Me?"

Qi Xiangyang was taken aback by the question.

"My name is Qi Sihuo."

This time, Xiangyang would no longer mean turning toward his family. This time, it meant living for the sunshine in his own life.

And Sihuo...

Born toward the sun, blazing like fire (me).

So we'll both be able to start our lives anew, right?

Blurb: 2025/3/6

Reader's guide: 1. Set in an imaginary world.

2. Focuses on farming, business, and daily life.

3. More to come if I think of anything.

Theme: Don't be afraid. Keep moving forward.