A Kingdom on Paper: Smoke and Dust from Every Direction

A master's graduate in journalism, repeatedly sneered at during his job search with claims that the humanities are useless, is inexplicably swept into the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. He becomes the least valued youngest son in a small fortified village on the Huai-Si frontier. There are no keyboards, no online traffic, and none of the modern world where he had no chance to put his skills to use. Instead, there are powerful clans that devour the weak, warlords watching like tigers, and a North-South struggle that could crush the village to dust at any moment. But his mind holds a set of skills from another age: he can read people, spot lies, and manipulate public opinion. He thinks these abilities will let him thrive in this chaotic world. Then he runs into a wall he never imagined. The public opinion he wields like a blade cuts him first, and the schemes he carefully lays are casually flattened by an even greater power. He doesn't want to be anyone's pawn or anyone's blade. But when everyone wants to place a bet on him, whom can he protect, and what can he change? He tries to wield public opinion as a blade and use information as his eyes, weaving hidden networks to change everyone's fate. Along the way, he keeps encountering things he can't quite explain: several objects that should not be here, a few words no one should know, and one or two familiar gazes?