Fake Cigarettes, Fake Booze, Fake Friends, but a Scientific Childhood Friend

Wangyue Qigong is a researcher of ancient scripts with a frail constitution, so delicate that she could easily die young. She works for an archaeological company under the multinational conglomerate Karasuma. The company is great. It cured her congenital illness, gave her plenty of freedom with her research projects, and even helped her achieve financial independence at a young age. The only odd thing is that everyone has to use code names at work. Her code name is Obiang. Among her coworkers are Vodka, who is fond of idols; Gin, who likes to scare people; Rye, who is always making sudden appearances; and Vermouth, who likes flirting with beautiful women. Apparently, these are honorary titles awarded by the head office to recognize outstanding employees. They make a perfectly good company sound like a liquor factory. But who cares? Whoever pays the bills is the boss. Everything at work was going smoothly until the company’s annual party, where she caught two people who had disappeared years ago to “pursue their dreams in music”: her relative’s younger brother and her childhood friend from the neighborhood. Weren’t they supposed to be forming a band? They’d even picked stage names and forbidden her from ever saying their real names again. So why were they suddenly working as interns at an archaeological company? Obiang glared at Bourbon and Scotch. Scotch met her gaze coolly, while Bourbon gave her a mocking smile. Both acted as if they didn’t know her and had lost their minds. Did playing rock music not only make people too poor to eat, but also change their personalities? Wangyue Qigong made up her mind: she had to get them back on track before they starved to death. But before long, she saw her childhood friends and new coworkers skipping work in broad daylight to fix plumbing and deliver packages, all while carrying guitar cases around. Good grief. She wondered if Gin, the HR manager, would be willing to save them two job offers as security guards. What’s it like to discover that your childhood friend has become a codename executive in a transnational criminal organization? Scotch sighed. Bourbon hesitated. Bourbon: ...How has she managed to survive here for seven years? Scotch: That’s not the point. The point is, we need to find a way to safely “optimize” her before the organization silences her. Bourbon: Or maybe...we should first figure out how to explain to our superiors the report submitted by this codename operative, “Obiang”: “Analysis of Highly Suspicious Growth Locations for the Immortality Drug ‘Blue Spider Lily’ Mentioned in Ancient Texts”? *Female lead: Wangyue Qigong, nicknamed Nana Jie. She has other names and a codename. *A frail, older-sister-type girl who doesn’t recognize her coworkers’ true identities and keeps her childhood friends worrying about her all their lives. *This story is entirely fictional and has no connection to any real country, region, organization, or person. *Some early chapters may contain conflicting details. The full story may contain very mild mystery, deduction, or horror elements. *The technology level in the Conan-era setting defaults to the pre-smartphone era. We may talk about Conan-style science when necessary. (Screenshot saved.) This story will be available to subscribers starting this Thursday. There will be a 10,000-word update that day. Thanks for your support! Here’s a new upcoming story. After finishing this one, I plan to write an original story: A robot from the future finds you and asks you to save a world on the brink of destruction. Does a world that needs high school students to save it really deserve saving? The robot arrived and delivered its warning too late. The world’s barriers are peeling away, and incomprehensible anomalies and monsters are appearing at the corner of your eye, gradually invading reality. How do we save it? Transmigrate into the worlds spawned from the Demon King’s bedtime stories, collect enough “World Hearts,” and forge them into a magical key to unlock the Demon King’s study and pull the plug on his internet... The heroic girl, chosen by both fate and the future to save the world, asked in shock: “You know, your first three lines made me think of how many iconic movies from different genres? And when you suddenly switched to the light novel genre, did you even consider giving me at least a decent sword first?” The robot’s eye lights blinked a few times, then it transformed into “an iron sword.” The words “The Best Sword in the Village” were engraved on the blade. Its speaker buzzed: “There’s no time to lose. Please set off...” And so, in order to pull the plug on the Demon King’s internet, the brave girl embarked on a journey to create a miracle. ...But couldn’t the ultimate goal at least sound a little more impressive? And so, in order to stop the Demon King and make his plan to destroy the world end in a “Page Not Found” error, the brave girl embarked on a journey to create a miracle. *A story I’ve truly wanted to write since 2008. *It might be a comedy. *The Demon King’s bedtime stories might be incredibly tasteless. *A serious heroine seriously saves the world, though some of those worlds might be a little off. *This story contains: old-school tastes, childhood memories, classic jokes, bizarre wish fulfillment, artificial stupidity, dark humor, people talking past each other, differing perceptions, misplaced images, meddlesome friends and family, a century of solitude, weddings and funerals, “if the code runs, don’t touch it,” “don’t panic, we still have Plan B,” “do we really have to go to this awful job,” “if the cat keeps ringing, is it provoking me?” and more to come... (Copy of the blurb saved on 2026.02.01.) Theme: Treasure your youth and make the most of it