The Island Murders

[A suspense and mystery novella with multiple twists, following the snowbound-mountain-lodge setup. A touch of horror, small-town romance, and now newly opened for readers!]

[Also promoting my upcoming modern danmei love-triangle novel, Three-Way Checkmate. Its blurb is below the main synopsis.]

The summer before his senior year of high school, Lan Yi was in a car accident. Both his eyes stopped working at once, leaving his vision and his future equally dark.

His busy parents discussed it and sent him to his maternal grandmother's island, where he could get an early taste of retirement, raising chickens and playing with dogs.

Lan Yi was speechless. All he wanted was to buckle down for a hundred days and get into one of China's top universities.

A few days later:

Lan Yi again: This is great. :)

Sea breezes, summer days, popsicles, and watermelon.

The bus station, wind chimes, fishing boats, and Feng Yu, his childhood friend, whom he'd been secretly in love with for ages.

Together, they made up his long, leisurely vacation.

It should have been a perfect vacation.

But at some point, everything began to change.

Every route to the island was completely shut down, turning it into an isolated place no one could reach.

Residents began dying one after another. Friends and family he had once trusted became strangers, and dangerous ones at that.

Everything that happened matched the cases Lan Yi had imagined, and every clue pointed to Feng Yu as the one and only possible culprit.

But Lan Yi was certain: Feng Yu could never, under any circumstances, be a criminal.

If that was the case, then he would step in, find the real culprit, and clear Feng Yu's name.

The super high-school detective Lan Yi, completely blind in both eyes, resolved to uncover the whole truth by himself!

Yet as he drew closer to the truth, everything ahead of him grew stranger and stranger.

At some point, the childhood friend he had trusted most became someone so unfamiliar and frightening that even Lan Yi was afraid of him.

As Lan Yi sank into despair, Feng Yu lovingly kissed his earlobe again and again, sighing with satisfaction.

“Why run away? Wouldn't it be better to stay by my side?”

Sunny, outgoing, and dryly funny: Feng Yu's love-struck, super high-school detective boyfriend, Lan Yi

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Childhood friend, gloomy ghost, highly intelligent and frighteningly capable, darkly obsessive and possessive top: Feng Yu

Reader's guide:

1. The romance will only begin after they turn 18!!!

2. If you spot a plot hole, it may involve a clue or a later development.

3. I can't think of anything else for now. If you're enjoying it, please add it to your collection! Heart!

Upcoming modern danmei novel, Three-Way Checkmate. Blurb below.

[Angst and groveling + love triangle + rivals competing for the same man, with a slightly old-school feel. Romance-focused, with plot on the side.]

1.

The World Youth International Chess Championship is the ultimate battleground that young chess players around the world dream of reaching.

Even before that year's tournament began, everyone had already assumed the title would go to either Nan Jiachen or Alexei.

But no one expected the champion's crown to go to a Chinese player they'd always jokingly called “a pretty vase.”

Only when the boy named Ming Lin slowly walked up to the podium did they have to admit:

Perhaps he wasn't just a pretty vase, but a hunter who had appeared on the chessboard.

However, word on the street had it that after the championship ended, the Chinese champion had been cornered in the restroom by Nan Jiachen and Alexei, one on either side.

Some thought it was bullying; others thought they were arguing.

But nobody would have guessed that Nan Jiachen and Alexei were begging Ming Lin to forgive them and show them mercy.

2.

Nan Jiachen, a Chinese American player; Alexei, a Russian player; and Ming Lin, a Chinese player.

These three were hailed as the rising stars of international chess.

But few people knew that one ordinary summer, they had trained together in a small Chinese city.

At first, they had been close enough to be inseparable.

But at some point, their friendship began to teeter on the edge.

One of Ming Lin's best friends told him:

“To become world champion, I have to cut off all ties and desires. I'm sorry, but we can't keep seeing each other.”

His other best friend told him:

“I'm sorry, I'm really not gay. I'm sorry I gave you the wrong idea.”

Ming Lin was bewildered.

What on earth were these people talking about?

They were just playing chess. What did that have to do with romance or being gay?

As time passed, Ming Lin gradually moved on from his two friends.

But to his surprise, when he first took the international stage, Alexei cornered him in the dressing room, cupped his face, and pecked him again and again.

Ming Lin was horrified.

Before he could recover, a huge bouquet of roses from Nan Jiachen was waiting for him at the hotel entrance.

Ming Lin couldn't take it anymore.

Only then did he realize that he and his two friends seemed to have rather different ideas about what their relationship meant.

3.

“This is not a playing field for Chinese people.”

Twelve years ago, Chinese players made it to the finals of the international chess championship for the first time, only to suffer a crushing defeat.

The foreign media mocked China mercilessly.

From the start, no one believed they had a chance.

As a young boy watching television, Ming Lin formed a small wish.

Why couldn't he be the one to sit on the throne of chess?

Twelve years later, another Chinese star made his way onto the world chess scene.

Nobody could have predicted the storm he would unleash in the world of international chess.

When Ming Lin finally took the seat belonging to the king of chess, surrounded by the media's cameras and microphones, he merely stroked the armrest and said with a laugh:

“That's all there is to it.”

That throne, long held by Europe, was nothing more than...

nothing special.

On the surface, he's an aloof, high-and-mighty bking; underneath, he's a sweet, oblivious bottom: Ming Lin

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Dominant, bold, and fiercely possessive top: Alexei

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Gentle and elegant, with a hidden dark side, the losing top: Nan Jiachen

Reader's guide:

1. Lots of love triangles, angst and groveling, and messy rivalries!!!

2. The story includes flashbacks, and both the writing style and plot lean more serious, with an old-school feel.

3. The main love interest is set and won't change: Alexei. But Nan Jiachen will also have plenty of scenes.

4. The author isn't a professional chess player, but has already started studying chess hard. This isn't entirely based on real life, and no characters are based on real people!!!

5. If you like it, please add it to your collection! The more people collect it, the sooner I'll start posting!!! (rubbing hands)

Theme: The power of love is immense.