[Chasing the Wind and Shadow] The Fourth Calamity Is Loading a Save

Fan fiction for the movie The Shadow's Edge

The player is *you*. The protagonist's game file can be male or female, but the player in this story has no gender.

The player has a weak sense of morality and does whatever they like. Their relationships with the movie's characters may include, but aren't limited to, friendship, straight romance, lesbian romance, and gay romance.

The author doesn't know much about Hong Kong and Macau crime films, so please bear with me.

Writing this for love of the story. If you disagree, please be gentle~

Main story complete, extras in progress.

Main story pairings: Xi-Wang / Xi-Meng. The story also includes other characters with unrequited feelings for the protagonist, as well as other pairings.

In the futuristic year of 2077, VR games have become very advanced. Yet a retro trend has taken the world by storm: immersive role-playing games.

Compared to the multiplayer online game Oasis, your hobby is niche even among niche hobbies.

One day, you get your hands on The Shadow's Edge, a cop-and-criminal story game developed by a friend. The game is still in beta, and your friend asks you to test the various storylines for bugs and tell him honestly what you think of the experience.

You agree without hesitation and begin your endless save-and-reload journey.

First playthrough: The game's surface storyline

All the starting options are locked, so the player can only choose the surface storyline and become a police officer who has only just joined the force.

You reluctantly kill time in the game until the main story begins, then join a temporary surveillance team. The whole time, you watch the story unfold like a camera.

Still, as a player, you can have fun turning on Fenglingyueying to beat up your coworkers who look down on you. XD

Second playthrough: The game's hidden storyline

You can choose your background.

This time, you choose the protagonist's orphan background from the start and join the Wolves, a criminal gang.

You gradually learn the stories behind these impossibly handsome criminals, savor their twisted emotions, and in the end choose a spectacular way to die.

After all, getting arrested by the police is the worst possible ending for a criminal.

And dying for a character you love is a kind of romance for a player, too~

Third playthrough, fourth playthrough...

You become so absorbed in exploring the game that you barely eat or sleep. You uncover every possible side quest, and even train your body so you can fight the characters in person. (Yes, after you first used cheats to boost your stats and beat up your coworkers, the game banned your cheat program. You could only train on your own and scan your stats into the game.)

Oh my god, your body has never been this healthy! You even start to wonder if your friend took the long way around just to get you to exercise...

??th playthrough

[You are a nameless ghost wandering through the city.]

[You may appear anywhere: the police station, the Macau Tower, a crime scene, an old district, an abandoned warehouse...]

[You may appear in identities no one expects: a man or a woman, old or young, police officer or criminal, a nobody or a big shot, or perhaps...]

[Some people have sensed your presence, faintly. They try to track you down, to catch a glimpse of you, but such attempts usually end in failure.]

[Because you are only a ghost wandering through this city, coming and going without a trace, watching their stories as an observer.]

[Or perhaps you've already changed this story, only you are part of it and cannot see clearly?]

[In this mode, the player's starting identity will no longer have any important connection to the story's characters. The player will watch this tense operation, The Shadow's Edge, as an observer.]

[The story will be experienced in segments. After each segment, the player will be randomly assigned a new identity.]

[In this mode, the player's death will not bring the game story to an end. Before this story is fully complete, the player may exit the game, but cannot interrupt the story or restart it from the beginning.]

[Still, as long as you want to, you can always do something, right?]

Theme: Make your choice.