Reflections at Forty
Today was Old Cow's fortieth birthday.
It was also his twentieth year working in online literature.
Looking through his Moments, the old brothers who had set out on this road with Old Cow back then had either long since become wildly famous, their names shaking the martial world,
or they had seen reality for what it was early on, changed course, abandoned darkness, and turned toward the light.
After muddling along for a full twenty years without making much of a name for himself, yet still muddling along—and shamelessly preparing to keep muddling along, not thinking even another thirty or fifty years would be too much—it seemed Old Cow was the only one left.
They said that at forty, one no longer had doubts.
But why did Old Cow feel that his doubts were only growing?
Even web novels, which he had written for twenty years, seemed to be growing ever more unfamiliar.
The old problems buried deep in his bones had yet to be solved, while countless new problems had emerged—problems he could never have imagined when he was in his twenties, brimming with the vigor of dragons and tigers, ignorant and fearless.
Problems of the body, family, career, spirit, and ways of thinking...
It was precisely these problems that had made the latter half of "Earthlings" somewhat... difficult to bring to term?
That said, no matter how many problems there were, Old Cow had still traveled alongside all you dear brothers and sisters on a long journey of more than five million characters.
It was about time to bring it to an end.
In a few days, once it was truly finished, Old Cow would have a proper chat with everyone.
Then Old Cow would adjust his state, sum up the lessons learned, and find