Us, in and Out of the Story

Content warnings

1. Heavy suspense / crime investigation: Although the story involves secrets and surveillance, its core is the characters' emotions and growth, not the solving of intricate puzzles.

2. Power fantasy / golden finger: The protagonist is an ordinary creator and observer, with no superpowers or special identity. Crises are handled through intelligence, patience, and mutual support.

3. Over-the-top angsty romance / manufactured sweetness: The romance is restrained and realistic, developing naturally through everyday interactions and life-or-death trials, without dramatic misunderstandings or exaggerated emotional conflict.

4. Epic historical saga: Although the story involves secrets left over from history, its focus is on individual guardians and the responsibilities of ordinary people in the present, not a sweeping historical panorama.

The entire novel is finished and ready to post. I'll put it up gradually~

Hope you all enjoy reading~

A convenience store at two in the morning is a refuge for insomniacs and a torture chamber for those whose inspiration has run dry.

Wen Xuyan, a novelist trapped in an "elegant maze," has been pondering two bottles of soda philosophically for nine minutes. Then Song Dujin, a stranger wearing three silver studs in his ear, his eyes as bright as amber, sees through the mirror metaphor in Wen Xuyan's writing and catches the bag of chips he knocks to the floor.

"You're good at writing psychological battles in confined spaces," Song Dujin says. "How about a game?"

And so an absurd yet reasonable arrangement is born: for seven consecutive days, meet at the same convenience store at two every morning. Each day, Song Dujin gives him a little task that breaks with convention, and Wen Xuyan only has to do it. For example, starting tonight, don't go home. Use only pen and paper to record the "useless" details of this city on a rainy night: the worn shape of a faded pair of jeans at the knees, the pink curtains flickering in an unfamiliar window, even the convenience store's automatic doors hissing like a sigh.

No pressure to write, just practice learning to "see" again.

Wen Xuyan is skeptical. But when he realizes he's actually growing curious about the story behind the room with pink curtains that glow late every night, and even looking forward to tomorrow's second task, he understands that this "System reboot," started by a stranger in a convenience store, might just be the not-so-terrible turning point he's been waiting for...

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