If there’s one English line that stuck with me more than any other, it’s the Oracle’s from Matrix: “Everything that has a beginning has an end.” I love that line. It states a truism in the coolest possible way—and honestly, a lot of philosophy is just truisms. The difference is that most real-world truisms go unnoticed until someone with a special aura says them in a mystifying tone, and then suddenly everyone treats them as gospel. I bring it up because I still remember 2013, when I laid my cards on the table with a fujoshi I’d been pursuing and she shot me down for good. What I felt wasn’t so much heartbreak as relief. Looking back, she probably knew I was into her the whole time and just never gave me a clear no—kept me on the hook, had me tag along, paid for her meals. Not exactly malicious, but there was definitely some calculation in there. After that day I decided I needed something to do. I’d just bought a Windows tablet—a Dell V8p—and figured, well, I’ve never had a successful romance, so maybe I’ll find solace in games. I fired up Hatsuyuki Sakura (初雪桜), a newly translated release that had just dropped, and that kicked off my Galgame bulldozer mode. Windows, PSP, PSV, even iPad, and later Switch—my assault on visual novels has never stopped, and it hasn’t stopped now.

It’s been a long time since this happened, but I kept going back and forth on whether to write it down. Same as my experience two years ago when I got dragged into a quarantine facility for over ten days — I really wanted to write about it, and it would be meaningful, but it’s easy to get burned, to invite unnecessary trouble. Last year I really wanted to write it out and vent, but as time passed I forgot about it. Today I happened to remember, and figured I should write it after all — the whole process is not just surreal but ironic, and it also illustrates the state of most of the industry from the side, and it even calls back to some of my experiences from years ago. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I won’t mention the product’s name in this whole piece, and I won’t comment too heavily on the product’s R&D and management strategy. I’ll try to just lay out the facts plainly and let everyone judge for themselves. At the end I’ll give my short take. Of course, this is just a long dream I had last year. All the plot comes from the story in the dream, not reality. Please don’t match it to anyone real, and don’t make weird guesses.

Around early March 2021, I was broke enough to start thinking about making a little side cash — passive income, ideally. Mining was booming at the time, but I only had a 1070ti and wasn’t about to whore it out, so I never jumped into that pit. Then something called “Xunlei Zhuanqianbao” caught my eye. By then it had already been renamed “Wangxin Cloud,” and the pitch was that you just run a little router-like box at home and make 100+ RMB a month. You could run several, some people supposedly pulled in over 1000 a month. Pretty tempting, I have to admit. So I followed the project through 2021, used some idle hardware I had lying around, put in about 120 RMB, and ended up making over 1600. Honestly that’s way less than I expected, but at least it covered my internet “freedom” — all my broadband and phone bills, with a bit left over. There’s a lot of talk online about Wangxin Cloud. Some say it’s a scam, some say it’s a goldmine, some say it’s mining, some say it’s a pyramid scheme. So let me go through my own experience and take on it.

As everyone knows, the Japanese galgame industry is on its deathbed lately — August didn’t even have a single big release worth playing — so out of boredom I had to go find something else to play. That’s when I happened to see someone on a blog hyping up a galgame called Hallucination (幻觉). The funny part: the studio behind it, Ash Heaven (灰烬天国), had a previous game called Old Watch (旧手表) that was pulling in a lot of positive reviews on Steam. Most Chinese-made galgames on Steam have high ratings anyway, except the ones that shitpost themselves to death. Considering Old Watch was especially praised for its story, and considering I literally had nothing better to do, I bought the Old Watch + Hallucination bundle and started playing. Old Watch first, naturally. The playthrough wasn’t especially long, wasn’t especially short. Honestly, Old Watch far exceeded my expectations. Compared to the games I ran into years ago where the “anime-nerd concentration was high enough to make me vomit,” Old Watch actually has a shadow of what a real “Chinese-made galgame” could be, and its strengths and weaknesses are both very obvious. So I figured I’d write something about this game and its sequel, plus my own views on the endless stream of “Chinese-made galgames” coming out these days. No plot summary this time, and no savage roasting either (I heard bashing Chinese galgames gets you flamed?). Just an essay, writing wherever my thoughts go.

Another day like any other. My little sister comes to wake me up, same as always. “Big sis, breakfast is ready. Time to get up.” I’m a guy, but my sister has always called me “big sis.” “Hey, is it really okay to keep calling you that?” Just as my sister leaves, a figure slips out from beside me — a girl with black hair, asking me that. Actually, this “girl” is a cat. And not just a cat — a cat god. A cat god who also happens to be my savior. It all started two weeks ago.

A while back I noticed a bunch of problems with the Sony Xperia Z Premium. First, one of the external speakers stopped working — put simply, only one speaker produced sound. I also found yellow spots along the edge of the screen, maybe a screen issue. Since mine was a China-market unit, I went to Sony after-sales service. This time the Sony service location had moved to the Erqi Square area of Zhengzhou, on Dehua Street. I don’t think I’ve been here in ages… it’s changed quite a bit.

Kikuzakura is a beautiful girl, with pretty pink hair, fair skin, and a sweet smile. She doesn’t remember her original surname. She doesn’t even know who her parents are. For as long as she can remember she’s lived with her grandmother. “Grandmother” is only the woman who took her in, not real blood relation. Kikuzakura has asked her many times: “Where are my mom and dad?” Grandma always smiles, strokes Kikuzakura’s head, and says slowly: “You’re still young. When you’ve grown up, I’ll tell you.” Time flies. In the blink of an eye Kikuzakura is an adult, eighteen years old. On her eighteenth birthday, after they finish the cake, Grandma gives her a present. The little box is heavy, and she can’t tell what’s inside. Kikuzakura wants to tear it open right away, but Grandma stops her. “After the cake, tonight, in your room. Look at it slowly, by yourself.” Grandma’s expression is full of a kind of helplessness… as if there’s something she can’t say. Kikuzakura nods… ………… An autumn night, cool breeze blowing. Kikuzakura sits at the desk by the window and opens this Pandora’s box. Inside is a notebook… the paper between the layers has already yellowed a little, but the cover is thick enough that the contents should still be fine. She lifts the first page. Tucked inside is a photograph: a pink-haired woman holding a baby, smiling at the camera. Kikuzakura understands. There’s news of her parents in here, and the person in the photo is her mother. She keeps flipping. It’s a diary… a story from the past, unfolding before Kikuzakura page by page.

I only signed up out of boredom, and then I actually got invited. I’d almost forgotten about it, glanced at my phone and remembered, so I hopped on my bike and went.

Probably thanks to the massive reaction to that little fidget cube thing, more and more toys that “look useless but keep your hands busy” are hitting the market. The most typical recent example is this thing: the fidget spinner. Fidget spinner, as the name suggests, is a top you spin between your fingers. Simple construction, clean look. Hold the center pad, find a way to get it going, and that’s it. It really does spin more easily than your average metal disc—feels super smooth. If you get the force right, you can keep it going for several minutes without stopping. Right now fidget spinners come in two main shapes: two-armed and three-armed. Shape doesn’t change the game, though…

Xuebi’s surname is Wang, and he’s the only son in the family. By “only son” I don’t mean anything special—it’s just that he’s the only boy in this household. Wang Xuebi’s mom runs an antique knick-knack shop, but she’s scary fertile. After popping out Wang Xuebi, she went on to have four girls in a row: Wang Asahi, Wang Sayo, Wang Mahiru, and Wang Yayoi. The four girls have completely different personalities, but they’ve got one thing in common—they inherited their mom’s genes, and each one is prettier than the last. Of course, as the only boy, i.e. the only big brother in the family, Wang Xuebi looks… a little unfortunate. Probably because his mother spoiled him rotten, Wang Xuebi’s waistline has gotten another ring around it lately, and he’s about to need a custom belt. His classmates all call him “fatty,” but Wang Xuebi doesn’t mind at all. He’s the eldest son, the only male—and more importantly, he has four pretty sisters. Even more importantly, all four of those pretty sisters are crazy about him. Wang Xuebi has never interacted with other women. He’s got four knockout girls right at home—why go out and get stuck in traffic? So whenever his female classmates give him a look of disgust, Wang Xuebi fires back a look of contempt. “Fatty, you’re so fat you’re dripping grease, it’s gross.” “I hear he’s a siscon too, always tangled up with his sisters.” “Last time Lin Xian, the guy next door to the fatty’s house, said he saw the fatso taking turns kissing his sisters! I almost threw up just thinking about it.” “Holy shit, for real?!” The chattering girls can’t hold back this explosive rumor any longer, and their shrill voices get even more piercing.