After Faking My Death, My Memories Were Exposed

Across the boundless three thousand worlds are countless small worlds, built by creators within the pages of scripts.

Many of these worlds, often because their plots are a mess and their popularity is low, ultimately fail to ascend to a higher dimension and face destruction.

The world Xie Ci lives in is one of them.

The System tells Xie Ci that if he wants to save these small worlds, including his own, he must become a popular character in their scripts, deliver dazzling scenes and captivating performances, and gain energy from the audience's emotional responses.

Acting is Xie Ci's profession, so he agrees to the System's terms. He even professionally designs a complete tragic, beautiful, and powerful character profile for himself, then begins his role-playing journey.

Along the way, Xie Ci inevitably crosses paths with many important characters native to those worlds. Most of them are practically embodiments of tragedy. He casually saves them from one deadly predicament after another and smashes plenty of their misfortunes, changing the fates they were originally destined for.

In the end, Xie Ci successfully saves every world, then fakes his death and exits the stage amid the audience's tears.

Xie Ci begins his happy new life, until one day the System suddenly tells him that the important characters he met have bound themselves to a viewing System. They're watching his heartfelt performances in all those scripts and plan to watch an ad to bring him back to life (not really).

Xie Ci: Huh?

The good news is that all they see are the scripts, and they don't know Xie Ci faked his death.

The bad news is that, just like the audience, they howl and cry as they watch, apparently feeling terribly guilty toward Xie Ci.

Xie Ci: Uh...

The System lights a cigarette with a weary air and advises Xie Ci: "Host, you've come this far, so see the act through. Take the Buddha all the way to the West, and hold out until they've finished watching, then come back to life while you're at it. Look on the bright side: feeling embarrassed inside is better than being publicly put on trial and dying of shame."

Xie Ci: ...

Xie Ci: How is this not already a public execution?

.

Now let's interview the victims (crossed out) guests: What's your relationship with Xie Ci?

Guest Number One: "I suppose I'm his... friend. We knew each other when we were young. I saved his life, and he saved mine. I've been searching for him all this time. But when I finally found him, I didn't recognize him. I took the side opposing him. I wanted to kill him.

"I was the one who ruined him. I made him afraid to hope for a reunion ever again."

Guest Number Two: "I'm his enemy. I suppose that's how the world would define our relationship, though I don't see it that way.

"I admire him greatly. I once had the chance to turn him into a puppet and keep him at my side to work for me. But in the end, I let him go, because I believe that only when he's alive and has his own independent personality is he truly himself."

Guest Number Three, Guest Number Four, and so on...

The performances are fake, but the feelings are real: family affection and friendship.

No CP, no romance.

There will likely be lots of fake tearjerkers. His identity won't be exposed, and the scripts where he fakes his death won't be revealed as such.

The blurb may be revised later, but the core idea won't change.

2024.8.21

Theme: Always strive to improve yourself, and never give in to fate.