On X Day, thick fog cut off regions from one another, making them impassable and turning them into forbidden zones. The inner and outer worlds were reversed. It became known as the "Day of Divine Concealment."
Most people vanished along with their regions, while the space left for survivors kept shrinking.
The survivors who awakened supernatural abilities built cloud fortresses in the sky and founded an alliance.
Zhou You, an S-rank ability user in the alliance, led a team deep into Special Forbidden Zone No. 07. He risked his life to force the control lever down and set the outer world right again, but suffered severe injuries.
After ten days in a coma, Zhou You finally woke up in the alliance infirmary.
The doctor said coldly, "If you get hurt again, I'm not taking care of you."
His friend's tough-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside words finally let Zhou You relax.
He was about to crack jokes as usual when a line of scrolling text suddenly appeared before his eyes:
[They really didn't take care of him. Our doctor ran off as soon as Little Xuan Bird was trapped in Zone 03 and on the verge of death.]
Zhou You's smile faltered.
[Xuan Bird] was his ability, and Forbidden Zone 03 was his next mission site.
What was this? A side effect of residual negative energy from the forbidden zone? An enemy's illusion?
**
The action-packed anime Reversed World became a huge hit, winning countless fans, especially for its protagonist, Zhou You.
He hated trouble and avoided ability users, yet the alliance's efforts to save others eventually moved him, and he volunteered to become its sharpest blade.
He valued his life, yet went to the most dangerous forbidden zones and faced the most vicious monsters to take the burden off his partner. Injuries were routine, and death was always at his heels.
He had always been carefree, yet found himself with so many people to care about. He inherited the alliance leader's convictions, became the person his teammates trusted most, and held up the sky for the alliance.
He was afraid of pain, yet volunteered to be his friend's test subject, and even while injured, he taught his juniors and looked after his mentor...
Countless trials, a journey of pain and growth.
He always greeted everyone with his gentlest smile, not wanting them to worry.
He was the hope of the apocalypse, a savior beyond all doubt.
He would bring humanity back.
Viewers went wild for the passion and bonds, but the later plot took a shocking turn, went completely off the rails, and left everyone devastated.
The alliance's disastrous decisions made Zhou You take the blame. He was imprisoned, denied timely treatment, and no one spoke up for him.
With no hope of turning things around, the alliance launched its secret X Plan, accelerating the expansion of the forbidden zones. Once the whole world became one forbidden zone, they would send Zhou You to clean up the mess.
With little time left, Zhou You did indeed sacrifice himself, becoming the Xuan Bird. His final cry turned his bones into the control lever for the entire world, setting the human world right again.
He loved freedom most of all and dreamed of wandering the world, yet he was buried forever in the inner world.
And everyone accepted that as his fate.
The X Plan had been established on the very first day he joined the alliance.
The anime was rebooted, but viewers couldn't let go of Zhou You. They furiously cursed out the deranged author while flooding the screen with comments telling Zhou You to run.
Unexpectedly, the story really did change.
The forbidden zone fell. Zhou You lay on the ground, abandoning everything: the mission, his teammates, the alliance. He let the monsters surround him.
But the first face he saw was that of a certain bastard.
Yu Jin, the pure-blooded archvillain who opposed the alliance and was a villain from beginning to end. Zhou You's nemesis.
At the finale, when the monsters disappeared along with the inner world, Zhou You, his nemesis, died too. Yu Jin found it utterly boring and killed himself on the spot.
Now Yu Jin looked down at him and asked with interest, "Great savior, you're still not running? Aren't you afraid I'll drag you away?"
Zhou You replied calmly, "Sure."
He'd given up.
Yu Jin was stunned. "...Huh?"
Later, when those people from the alliance went mad trying to take back their savior, all they saw was their greatest enemy standing in the way, like a dragon guarding its treasure. He grinned mischievously. "But he chose me, you know?"
------Forthcoming Novel Blurb------
[Thrown into a Lovecraftian Game, but the Graphics and Audio Won't Load]
After his friend relentlessly recommended it, Yi Que downloaded the game. But it displayed an error saying an essential plugin was missing, so it couldn't run properly. Forcing it to launch could even spread a virus.
He happily forgot the game in a corner.
When he opened his eyes again, he had been transported into the game. The System had just issued the main quest, [Save the Family on the Path to Destruction], then froze while repeating [ ... Loading Failed].
Yi Que tried hard to remember. He forgot the beginning, forgot the middle, but in short, this seemed to be a horror game!
The strange family he was part of had made great achievements in all sorts of fields, including archaeology, folklore, science, investigation, and art. It was full of talented people.
But as his friend put it, they were a cursed name, the source of all evil. They wielded sinister powers, worshipped everything beyond comprehension, summoned horrific creatures, and dragged would-be rescuers into the abyss.
They awaited the ultimate moment when the world would fall into destruction and nothingness. They were said to be the craziest family of all.
And he was the useless youngest son, disliked by his entire family.
Yi Que quietly curled himself into a ball. Haha, I'm doomed!
But soon, he realized something was off.
For instance, one evening at dinner, everyone suddenly froze in terror and held their breath, saying they'd heard a dreadful whistle. He hadn't heard a thing.
And then there was the time they went into the woods to find his sleepwalking uncle. The others suddenly stared wide-eyed at something ahead, some screaming, others falling into a frenzy, but when Yi Que looked, there was nothing there.
After enough of this, Yi Que understood.
There was no supernatural horror at all. This was a realistic, socially conscious story about how hard life is for people with mental illnesses, told through the lens of one family!
That gave him an idea for the quest. He let himself go. Of course he'd win them over with love!
The whole family: ...
The whole family: Never mind. What can you expect from a little brother with zero inspiration who can't hear or see?
Then his eldest brother, whom he'd only ever seen in photos, appeared. Yi Que's pupils shook with shock as he asked tremblingly, "This is all a misunderstanding... You aren't actually dead, are you?"
Gu Xiao, with an inspiration score of 100+, was a legendary investigator known as the "Messenger of the Stars." He could sense every unseen and unheard truth amid the cacophony.
After a bizarre life beyond ordinary comprehension, he returned from the dead, only to be swallowed by the noise in the old mansion and nearly faint.
Then Yi Que appeared, and every disordered sound and vision vanished at once. For the first time, Gu Xiao felt utterly clear-headed. All that remained was the person before him, like an anchor.
So, as his whole family watched hopefully, Gu Xiao was silent for a moment before replying, "Yes."
The whole family: ...
The whole family: You just got back and you're already smitten! You're worse than the rest of us!
**
All Things Go Mad is a Lovecraftian, story-driven horror game.
Players take on the role of a member of a mad family, tasked with saving it. Yet again and again, encounters with the incomprehensible leave them despairing in the face of failure. In the end, they return to madness along with all things, perfectly conveying how small and powerless humanity is when faced with the unknown in Lovecraftian stories...
As if! Get rid of that cheat-code bug player already! (The System shrieks in fury.)
Theme: Pursuing freedom and reconciling with oneself.
