This Character's Profile Doesn't Add Up

Thanks to Teacher Hu Weicao for providing the new cover! The anti-piracy ratio is 40%. [About the bonus chapters:] [I originally wanted to write individual storylines for each character as bonus chapters, but later realized that getting a handle on Luo and Jin's storylines and characterizations was difficult, and I got badly stuck. So I decided to write the continuation first, followed by the what-if storyline. They're all free bonus chapters. The pressure of updating my other ongoing novel, along with the training camp schedule, means progress is very slow. I'll see if I can get them written before the end of the month.] Known fact 1: Lin Yao is a video game writer. Known fact 2: Lin Yao likes writing tragic endings for characters. Question: After Lin Yao dies and accidentally ends up in the game world, how should he face all the characters he personally wrote to their deaths, who are now watching their creator with murderous intent? To commemorate their lead writer, who died young, the developers of the virtual game *Character Profiles: Pending* make a decision: digitize the writer's memories and upload them into the game, hoping to create a commemorative NPC with the same personality as Lin Yao. The AIs playing the characters in the game learn from the writer's memory data in advance that they are destined to die horribly. They go on strike in protest, refusing to take part in the main storyline. No one saw this coming. [So, if the game is to continue running smoothly, the only option is for the esteemed writer to play the characters he wrote to their deaths himself.] The game's main System AI discusses it with the writer. “You mean I can play these characters however I want?” The writer, a veteran purveyor of tragic endings who had long suffered at the hands of demanding clients, nudged his glasses, a glint passing through his eyes. “Then that's simply wonderful,” the writer said with a smile. *Character Profiles: Pending* is full of beautiful, tragic, and powerful characters, the beloved figures players know they can never save. These characters include, but are not limited to: An experimental subject abandoned by an organization for showing signs of breaking free from control. Their body is manipulated, forcing them to attack their companions, until they finally find release at their hands. Ending: The contaminant fused inside them slowly consumes every bit of their flesh and blood; A savior who gives everything for humanity and exhausts their power purifying the contamination, only to be betrayed by the very people they protected just as victory dawns, and turn to darkness. Ending: They stand against the world, condemned by everyone, and die at the hands of the successor who takes up the mantle of savior; There are also a series of characters with all sorts of different deaths. Watching the game forum sob uncontrollably, the writer retires in triumph. Seeing the players who want to burn razor blades at his grave, he nudges his glasses and says, “Thanks for the compliment.” A few notes: 1. Updates are at midnight. 2. This useless author promises to finish the story. 3. The story may involve players shipping characters, but none of the characters have romantic pairings; their relationships are limited to friendship, family, and the like. 4. The protagonist has no romantic pairing, and each character has an independent consciousness. * Here's a no-romance upcoming novel from my profile. Please save it if you're interested: Title: *He's Really Not a Tragic Beauty! [Full Immersion]* Blurb: Yu Bai is a doll on the verge of being scrapped. The day before he is to be discarded, he gets bound to a game system. As long as he plays the game's guide NPC and wins the players' affection, he can earn popularity points, repair the doll's missing parts, and exchange them for the upgrade modules he has always dreamed of. Yu Bai can't help getting excited. “So all I have to do is find a way to make the players like me and earn their popularity points?!” Official notice: [In theory, yes. But this is a proper game, so put away those books: *How to Sell Your Charms Without a Trace and Tempt/Guide Players into Completing Quests*, *How to Make the Most Painful Tragic Endings*, and *The Four Key Principles for Creating a Powerful, Tragic Character*.] The game *Abyssal Heart* became an overnight sensation thanks to its stunning character models and its grim character storylines. The writers follow the principle that the more popular a character is, the more brutally they will be killed off. Players are constantly torn between “I'd do anything for my beloved” and “Please don't let my beloved die.” The characters who get put through the wringer include, but are not limited to: 1. A sacrificial boy who bears the power of a curse and serves as the guide NPC at the beginning of the game. He always comforts and encourages players with the gentlest words, making him the kindest guide of all. To get the players out of a high-risk dungeon ruled by an evil god, the boy breaks the seal on his curse and stays alone in the depths of darkness, slowly consumed by it. His smile remains gentle as ever. “Live on in my place, and then kill me.” Official notice: [New boss: Evil God's Filth, Mutated Form, now available. All players, stay alert!] 2. An experimental subject who serves as an artificial weapon. After cruel genetic experiments, he has lost both pain and emotion. In a desperate situation, he pushes through his injuries and leads the players out of a monster's encirclement. As everyone celebrates, the gravely wounded, dying test subject ventures alone into the darkness, awaiting the inevitable collapse of his genes and loss of control. “Don't worry about me. Treat me like a tool, just as they did. In the end, set me free.” Official notice: [New boss: The Ruined Test Subject, now available. All players, stay alert!] 3. A half-contaminant with both human and contaminated blood, understood and accepted by neither group. His hidden quests are simple and offer generous rewards, earning him a reputation as the most popular wandering NPC. The half-contaminant always leads the players in exploring the world with a cheerful smile. Only at the very end do the players realize that those hidden quests are steps in a plan to turn the NPC into a host for the contamination, kill him, and thereby purify the world. Before the contamination consumes him and he loses control, the young man smiles as he guides the blade in the player's hand through his own chest. “I knew you could make it this far.” Official notice: [New boss: The Corrupted Savior, now available. All players, stay alert!] Players: [It hurts, it hurts so much. What kind of grim storyline makes players personally kill off the character they love?!] The official team, blamed for countless things, falls silent and looks at the doll currently counting his popularity points. Yu Bai quietly locks the doll's curse plugin's first secret identity, the doll's genetic modification plugin's second secret identity, and the doll's contamination plugin's third secret identity in the wardrobe, wearing an innocent expression. The doll just wants a little popularity. What did the doll ever do wrong? P.S.: 1. The main characters have no romantic pairings. 2. The doll's appearance, the genders of his secret identities, and his own gender identity are all male. 3. Please refrain from pitting characters against each other or insulting them. Theme: Live positively and face life with optimism.