Peeking at Light Through a Hole: Author's Note on Going Premium

Save money: I'll be updating with over 10,000 words tomorrow, and it'll be available at noon! Then, as usual—for those of you who aren't in a hurry to leave, let's sit down and chat.

I believe that reading a new book is like Peeking at Light Through a Hole.

In the pitch-black snowy night, the reader approaches houses with lights on and paper covering their windows.

Although one can roughly discern the brightness of different houses, one cannot know their internal structure or what the owners are doing.

Only by peering through a hole in the wall can one see the furnishings inside; one must carefully turn one's head and peer through the narrow hole, taking advantage of the dim light inside, to see the layout of the room and understand what kind of family it is and why the room is lit.

When you finally see things clearly and feel at ease, you will gently knock on the door and push it open to enter, sharing this rare glimmer of light in the snowy night.

This light emanates from the depths of my heart and is shared with all who wish to share it with me.

It is not a blazing light, unlike the sun that can illuminate everyone; nor is it like the operating room lamp that can illuminate the darkness.

It was just a lantern, a candle, a light bulb—the faint light I could emit. But it was enough to illuminate this small room.

I hope you can see me through this light.

Report on progress: The number of readers Mu Xu has now exceeded 10,000.

This is undoubtedly my best-performing book in history.

Although my writing achievements are not bad, I wrote five novels before Mu Xu, with a total of more than nine million words in completed works, three of which had 10,000 subscribers and one of which was a featured work... but none of the three 10,000 subscribers were featured.

Not a single one.

The success was entirely due to the stable plot development that followed, which gradually built up the foundation. And this book is the highest achievement I've ever achieved in my writing career.

It even made me a little apprehensive; I didn't know if I could maintain this hard-won achievement.

But at the same time, I also feel proud.

Because I always adhere to the principle that "I won't write about plot developments I don't understand, even if the unfolding is interesting." Sudden success, for which I don't even know the reason, would only destroy my worldview. Therefore, I only write about plot points that I understand, that I comprehend, and that I can replicate.

In the previous book, the skills I honed were indeed useful! Although some authors say they were practicing after their books flop, I told everyone before I even started writing the Overturned Tower that I was going to write a book specifically for practicing... mainly because when I was writing about players, I felt that I was lacking in many areas and didn't know how to write about many things.

At the time, "The Player is Super Just" was being serialized and doing quite well. I didn't dare to try anything fancy, afraid of ruining the book. So even if I had any new ideas, I didn't dare to put them into practice.

I firmly believe in one principle: one will never learn something without practice, just as one will never understand something without experiencing it.

So I wrote down all the plots I wanted to write but didn't dare to, and those I wasn't sure would be effective, and practiced them in "The Overturned Tower".

To eliminate distractions, I specifically chose a genre I wasn't good at. My goal was simply to see how readers reacted to and evaluated different plot points, character development, and writing styles, and then make corrections accordingly.

Just like when creating a character in a game, you first need to sculpt a buzz cut or a shaved head! The reason for choosing science fiction among many themes is my love for science fiction.

—You can love even if you're not good at it! I call it "compromise idealism".

While cherishing dreams, we should still pay attention to improvement and gains.

Just like in a game, try to maintain strength while taking into account both coolness and aesthetics—not just being a pure looker or a pure strength player.

When I first started writing Mercury Blood, it was all instinct, without any outline or plan. I had many regrets, thinking, "If only I had done it this way back then." I wrote them all down, with the firm thought in my heart, "One day I will come back and settle the score."

I rediscovered this style when I was a player, and tried to write in a way that better suited the general public's aesthetic.

The player's score is ten times that of Mercury Blood.

But as the player continued writing, new regrets arose. So the book underwent further optimization, and its performance improved to four times that of the player.

—As long as people persist in "effective learning" and repeatedly engage in self-criticism, they will truly improve!

... Of course, in turn, my health is getting worse and worse.

My sleep schedule has now shifted to going to bed at 10:30 AM and waking up at 5:30 PM. Writing for eight hours every day feels like I'm about to ascend to heaven.

The outline of this book is long enough to take about two years to write, totaling more than three million words.

I hope people won't get hurt.

After this book is finished, I'll need to take a break for at least six months, maybe a year. I've already booked a villa with a friend in Five Finger Mountain, Hainan. I'll be going to Five Finger Mountain to recuperate like a monkey.

The month-long break I had wasn't nearly enough. Although the outline, setting, and inspiration were mostly finalized last October, I spent half of that break recuperating.

Clap your hands, and now it's time for the thank-you segment—

First of all, thank you for the article recommendations, I'll treat you to a meal when we meet again!

Secondly, thank you to my editor, Jia Nan! Before this book was published, Jia Nan and I checked the settings and outline for a long time, which was a great help! Also, thank you to my invincible operations manager and illustrator, [No Food in the Jar]! The jar is invincible—look at the covers of this book, and the previous book, the Overturned Tower, they were all drawn by the jar! Even the character designs for this book, and the designs for all kinds of merchandise for this book, were all handmade by her! What an amazing operations manager, do you have one? (loudly)

She's holding a giveaway in the book review section, giving away some free merchandise made from jars! Although the author can't sell merchandise, she'll give it away for free if you don't want it to cost money! —And of course, she'll cover the shipping! You guys check it out later!

Next, thank you to all the readers for your generous donations! Special thanks to Fu Luoli Tian Ze Lu for the Silver Alliance donation!

Ze Ze and I met in Mercury Blood, Ze Ze has basically been feeding one to three alliance leaders every month. On the neighboring Cat Guest server Ze Ze has already accumulated three silver alliances, while the Player is Super Just and the Overturned Tower have each reached one gold alliance, and the tower also has several extra silver alliances...

I'm so grateful to Tianze Beauty Girl, I feel like I'm being taken care of, meow.

Thank you to the following for their contributions: Yin Tian Shen Yin, Li Tian X, Xin Qing?? Fu Za??, Ying Ni Yan, Yu Zhou Ge, Tchaikovsky Tarkovich, Mu Feng Zhi Ge, Wei La 0205, Gu Xin Xuan, Zuo Bo Qie Ye Zi! Thank you to the following for their contributions: Cang Jing Meng Hai, Dian Si Ji Zi, and Yao Du Ting Ri!

Thank you all for your donations, votes, and subscriptions!

Never before has there been such a wonderful start (Geope clenches his fist)... This sounds a bit ominous, so let's leave it at that.

Someone once asked me, "Can you really stick to studying for two hours every day?" Or, "How do you ensure you can study every day?" The answer is quite simple. And once I explain, you'll immediately see how feasible this method is—it's just that it probably won't work for everyone.

Simply put, every day after I start working (that is, writing), I immediately put down my work and read a book.

My strong desire to avoid work and my obsession with escaping it drive me to read as much as possible to pass the time. And at these times, when I escape into a space free from work distractions, I feel very free, and my learning efficiency is extremely high.

It's like flipping through the textbook to check the answers while doing homework. But the strong desire not to do homework will push you to look at the textbook more, to carefully flip through it... Things you would never normally look at will become very sweet under this impulse to escape reality.

—When I was in school, to avoid doing homework, I would even stare at the medicine bottle on the table for a long time, let alone do extracurricular reading! It proves that people will do anything to slack off. And they are capable of anything.

This book was inspired by a lot of books and a lot of games—cats at home only do two things when they have nothing to do: either read or play games.

I can't even count how many game settings I've woven into my books, but there must be a lot. My friend Yintian and I are fundamentally different. For him, writing is a joy in itself, something he loves to do; but for me, writing is just a job that I'm very good at. My ultimate goal is still reading and playing games... and writing is actually a byproduct of the overflow of inspiration after reading and playing a lot of games.

In short, if anything looks familiar, it's a tribute! Thank you to all the games I love that inspired me, including Granblue Fantasy, Final Fantasy, Trailblazer: Wrath of the Righteous, Cultist Simulator, and many more! Finally, let me share my reading list, which I've been asked about several times before.

I originally planned to release it all at once at a suitable time—but I was too busy during the Chinese New Year and forgot to post it! If you're not interested in this, you can skip this part, as it's basically unrelated to the book and is more of a knowledge-sharing segment. The books listed below are ones I've read, reread two or more times, and some I've skimmed but haven't finished reading the first time since "The Player is Super Just" started serialization in 2019—a four-year library! Looking at these books will give you a general idea of the author's personal preferences.

I believe this is also a way to enhance mutual understanding.

This isn't just about sharing my favorite books with readers who enjoy them; it's also about sharing useful creative materials and sources of inspiration with fellow authors. These books should all be readily available, but this isn't a recommendation; everyone has different strengths and interests, and I read a rather diverse range of books.

Of course, to avoid any suspicion of promoting books, I didn't include any of the online novels I usually read.

The books listed here are not ranked in any particular order; this is not a recommendation, but simply a list of books I've read. I'll only provide brief reviews of books I've read repeatedly, and they don't include books I've read before but haven't read in recent years. Books that are too idiotic are simply ignored; they're probably cached in my brain. The rest I've added as titles come to mind, but there may be omissions.

If there are multiple versions or similar titles, I will mark the author for easy reference: 1. Books I've read but not finished: Scott's Wicker Magic; Wizards: A History of Fear; Lewis Lee Broque's The Bull Raid; Robert's The Wonderful World; Sue Tompkins' Studies in Astrological Aspects, Astrological Magic: Basic Magical Rituals and Meditations; Leo Strauss' History of Political Philosophy; The Third Wave; The Prisoner IA; Borges' The Book of Sand; Tess of the D'Urbervilles; The Murders of the Sun, Moon and Stars; The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science; History of International Relations, Volume III.

2. Read the following: The Morphology of Story; The Magic, Oracles, and Sorcery of the Azande; The Myth of the Origin of Fire; Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844; An Exploration of Ancient Chinese Thinking Patterns and the Yin-Yang and Five Elements Theory; Alvin Toffler's The Transfer of Power; A Guide to Western Mysticism; The Secret of Alchemy; * Whis: The Zoroastrian Holy Scripture*; The Pastoral Bible; Understanding Media: On the Extensions of Man; Studies in Narrative Theory in Anglo-American Novels; Detective AI; The Vanishing Thirteen Steps; Headless: The Haunting; The Longest Day in Chang'an; When Mysticism Knocks on the Door; The Odyssey; The Moon and Sixpence; Music of Strangers; The Glass Hammer; The Collected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe; Man and His Symbols; Yes, Minister; Thomas Ralston's Celtic Myths and Legends.

Richard Morgan's Altered Copy; Kazuhiro Uraga's The Tragedy of Delta; Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light; Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus; Blake Snyder's Saving the Cat; Toward the Depths of History: A Study of Marx's Historical View; Guo Qingguang's A Course in Communication Studies (Second Edition); Keigo Higashino's Black Laugh Novel, The Crooked Laugh Novel, The Doppelganger, Who Killed Her, and *The Tragic Doll *; Paz's The Bow and the Lyre; The Weight of the Butterfly: Selected Poems of Nelly Sachs; *The Life of Milton *; Friedrich Schiller's Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man; The Alphabet Killer Club; Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red.

A Close Reading of the Rigveda; On the Bhagavad Gita; Liu Zhongyu's Chinese Spirit and Monster Culture; Ye Shuxian's Heroes and the Sun: A Reconstruction of the Prototypes of Ancient Chinese Epics; Okajima Futari's Klein Jar; Detective: The Higurashi Traveler; 3. Books I've read more than once, or repeatedly in the last three or four years:

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa's Black Magic Notebook (an excellent reference book, explained very clearly); McKee's Story (highly recommended, I think all novelists should read it); Frazer's The Golden Bough (recommended, anyone writing about mystery or related topics should read it); Black Snyder's Save the Cat 2 (significantly better than the first); The Purple and the Black (a very exciting fantasy story); Selected Poems of Tagore (cats quite enjoy reading poetry, this is also the foundation for the Overturned Tower of Destruction*).

Ryunosuke Akutagawa's short story collection Rashomon; (this is a memory from my high school years) Hitchcock's short story and screenplay collections published by Shidai Wenyi Publishing House: Suspicion, North by Northwest, Double Killer, Borrowed Knife, and Midnight Chase; (this is a memory from my junior high school years, and I still find it interesting to read often).

Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, Sand and Foam; (Read Poetry +1)

Death Fugue: Selected Poems of Paul Celan; (Read Poetry +2)

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files; (my favorite Light Novel) Kara no Kyoukai; (my second favorite!) Thus Spoke Zarathustra; (the basis for the Player is Super Just creation)

Faust; (also the foundation of the Player is Super Just)

The Godfather; (This also counts as part of my childhood; I was so young when I read this book) The complete Sherlock Holmes stories; (Childhood +1)

The complete collection of Agatha Christie detective novels. (Childhood +2)

Finally, I'd like to recommend a WeChat official account called "Literary Theory and Criticism," where you can occasionally find some good books.

Although I doubt many readers will actually read this far, as is customary, I'll still end with that sentence...

I hope we can meet again tomorrow.

May happiness always be with you.