Welcome to the Hunter's Game

[The main story is complete.] [Pre-orders in my collection: Don't Matchmake the Jianghu's Public Enemy on a Whim and National Server S1 Spirit Medium. If you're interested, please add them to your favorites. Mwah~] After returning from vacation, ace data analyst Yan Xu received a secret mission: reclaim the no-man's-land known as Low Altitude Crash. Low Altitude Crash was exactly what its name suggested: a lawless place in total chaos. Countless undercover agents had met their downfall there, losing contact and vanishing without a trace. As the top data analyst, Yan Xu excelled at reading people and assessing situations. Whenever an incident occurred, he could calmly stay apart from the crowd, evade one dangerous investigation after another, build whatever connections he could, and complete his survey of the area. So Yan Xu never imagined that a bar waiter would be the one to trip him up. The waiter had him pinned in a back alley, a fountain pen hovering mere inches from Yan Xu's throat. The other's voice was cool and soft. "Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to stumble upon your deal." Yan Xu was not about to back down. He lifted the other's chin with a teasing touch and tightened his grip on the pen pressed to his neck, his tone flirtatious and dangerous. "Too bad. I didn't mean for us to get into this scuffle, either." He couldn't let his identity be exposed. And Xu Chushi, who had managed to survive unscathed in Low Altitude Crash, was no pushover either. Poison hidden between the teeth and mixed into a drink. A seaside railing that toppled with a single push during a stroll. Dangerous probes and silent gunfire. The more Yan Xu interacted with Xu Chushi, the more unfathomable he found him. No matter how many times he deliberately approached, secretly set things in motion, or laid traps, he couldn't get the better of the other man in the slightest. And Xu Chushi was just as powerless against him. It was a raging undercurrent, a contest in which neither could gain the upper hand. It wasn't until later, when the two were forced to cooperate in a desperate situation, that Yan Xu discovered Xu Chushi was afraid of the sea. According to rumors, the hunter ranked first on Low Altitude Crash's points leaderboard, codename 7684A, was a cold-blooded nightmare who would stop at nothing to complete a mission. Only Yan Xu knew. Xu Chushi would dive into the deep sea for him, kiss his lips gently, wipe away the helpless tears at the corners of his eyes, and hold him close, his heart beating in his chest. A flower blooming in poisoned soil. Leading him out of the nightmare. 1. Older love interest. Yan Xu is the gong and Xu Chushi the shou: a data analyst with a knife hidden behind his smile × a socially anxious, reclusive former hunter. 2. Two strong leads. One-to-one pairing, firmly together, no splitting them up or reversing their roles. They are each other's only ones in body and heart. They genuinely try to kill each other at first, then move toward each other and save each other. Proceed with caution if that's not your thing. 3. An alternate universe with a cyberpunk slant. Their relationship is expected to take a turn around the middle, involving mind control and amnesia, but it won't be melodramatic. Proceed with caution if that's not your thing. Blurb for National Server S1 Spirit Medium On the 127th day of dreaming the same dream, Chen Ling noticed that something in his home had gone wrong. The alarm clock by the door let out an eerie laugh. A shifting shadow appeared outside the fifth-floor window. Red liquid seeped from the painting on the wall... And then there was the neurotic, no, the benefactor, who had inexplicably crouched outside his door and immediately offered to commission and buy out all of Chen Ling's future paintings. That night, the person in the painting stood before the dining table with a knife in hand. Weeping as he wiped away his tears, he stabbed a little wooden doll of Chen Ling's. Chen Ling braced one hand against the frame and let the blade in the painting cut his finger, staining the silver-colored image red. He said softly, "Cry again, and I'll burn you." After the supernatural revival, haunted objects ran rampant. Countless curses descended upon the world, dragging people into eerie inner worlds known as "urban legends." Forbidden zones where the living could not set foot. Bellflowers blooming over a heart, NPCs whose skins had been stolen by virtual characters, living wooden puppets disguised as statues... People tread carefully, struggling to survive. Later, a masked person appeared in the urban legends. Whenever others searched for clues, he hid information and misled them with his words, deliberately steering them in the wrong direction. He tricked everyone into resolving each crisis in a more complicated and dangerous way. Xie Wan. And in every crisis, Chen Ling could find the right method and the right path, leading those around him to escape and silently thwarting Xie Wan. People began instinctively following Chen Ling, hoping he could lead them out of the urban legends. But when the Spirit Medium Association finally issued a warrant for Xie Wan's arrest and placed him on the wanted list, people discovered that Chen Ling was standing firmly at Xie Wan's side, making him an accomplice. Chen Ling sat atop a raised platform. "You didn't know?" "I used to be the third most dangerous person on the Spirit Medium Forum." "Now I'm number one on the wanted list: Zero Degree." After the supernatural revival, Chen Ling lost several unfinished life-drawing sketches. No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find them. It wasn't until the people in his paintings called his name in his dreams and an urban legend unfolded that Chen Ling realized his missing artworks would often become the only exits from the inner worlds. They were completing themselves by using death as a filler. As for Xie Wan, he was the observer secretly investigating everything, searching for the origins of the paintings, and witnessing those stories that could never be undone... Xie Wan: "A thousand people have a thousand Hamlets. Different people will have different feelings when they look at the same painting." Chen Ling: "Then what are you hoping to see when you ask me to sketch inside an urban legend?" Xie Wan fell silent for a moment, then hooked his little finger around Chen Ling's. "The creator." "You." A secretly ruthless, desperately broke, freedom-loving artist gong (Chen Ling) × a secretly soft-hearted, reckless benefactor and detective shou (Xie Wan) 1. Gong's perspective. One-to-one pairing, firmly together, no splitting them up or reversing their roles. They are each other's only ones in body and heart. 2. Primarily a traditional puzzle-solving infinite-flow story. There are items but no golden finger. This is not a power fantasy. 3. The two are partners in crime and bickering rivals, trading barbs in public and fooling around in private. Their financial arrangement is just a lie the couple tells (not really). Theme: May the torch burn forever.