The Spirealm | Recap and Review

A man enters a deadly game with a deadly flirt. 
Notable Actors/Actresses

Huang Jun Jie: Lin Jiu Shi

Xia Zhi Guang: Ruan Lan Zhu

Chinese Title
致命遊戲

Deadly Game

Genres: Contemporary, BL, Suspense

Network: iQIYI

Year: 2024
Episodes: 78 (20 minute eps)

Recap Grade: A/B

Jump to Review | Recs | Comments

Doors (Levels):

1. Xiao Jiu (Winter Cabin) [1-7]
2. Xiao Shi (Apartment) [8-13]
3. Xu Jin (Drum Sisters) [15-20]
4. Zuo Zi (School) [24-31]
5. Nurse (Psychiatric Hospital) [34-38]
6. Painter (Art Museum) [40-45]
7. Landlady; River God (No Ruan Lan Zhu) [46-52]
8. Teru teru bozu [55-58]
9. Tan Zao Zao's 6th Door [59-61]
10. Box Devil [62-70]
11. 11th Door [73-76]

Mini Recaps

[Ep1] Lin Jiu Shi (a video game developer) receives an anonymous package. Inside is the game he’s been wanting to play: The Spirealm (Spirit + Realm). 

Inscription: Welcome to the world of doors

The game glitches and it's over. It's a faulty copy. Dejected, Lin Jiu Shi leaves the e-cafe, but then a door appears in the middle of nowhere. Cars blaze by him. HOOOOOONK. – Scene cuts away! – Lin Jiu Shi is at home at 10:33pm. It appears the car accident was minor. He opens the door to his room, and all of a sudden he's swept away in snow. (Deep voice: "Welcome to the world of doors"). A life-size wolf hounds after him. 

An impish voice from afar directs Lin Jiu Shi which way to run. There's amusement in his tone as Lin Jiu Shi flees for his dear life. The source of the voice finally descends. It's Ruan Bai Jie. He's wearing a majestic white robe in this wintery blizzard. 

Ruan Bai Jie may have saved Lin Jiu Shi, but killing the wolf was part of his mission. Saving Lin Jiu Shi was only by convenience, a means to his end. Lin Jiu Shi was disillusioned, thinking this beautiful man dropped everything to save him. Ruan Bai Jie craftily justifies: the means is he did use him, but the end is he did save him. Nothing wrong there. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Players

The random people Lin Jiu Shi met in happenstance in this episode will be the players in his 1st Door. 1) Xiong Qi is the man who crashed into him; 2) Suit guy (who turns psychotic in the game) passed by LJS while talking on the phone; 3) Delivery guy was the one who LJS “heard” argue with a lady after a crash.

Hearing

I just don't believe Lin Jiu Shi has supernatural hearing in reality. Since the Show opens with him hearing another car accident from afar, I suspect he was already unconscious from the first second of the drama. Xiong Qi crashing into him was part of his dream, and not the beginning of the VR-dream.

Lin Jiu Shi's dream guy...

...Ruan Lan Zhu. Lin Jiu Shi even made Ruan Lan Zhu's first appearance so dreamy and so feminine (with a female name, Ruan Bai Jie). It's in Ruan Bai Jie's DNA/coding to be the kinda guy who would drop everything to save Lin Jiu Shi in contrast to Lin Jiu Shi's best friend in university who abandoned him. I think Lin Jiu Shi always understood why his friend chose to save others before him, but he just couldn't stop feeling depressed that he wasn't his friend's first choice.

[Ep2] In the middle of flirting and feigning injury, there's one serious line from Ruan Bai Jie. 

Ruan Bai Jie: Welcome to the world of doors. 

He explains the game in a cryptic, piecemeal manner. It's like an escape room. They have to find the Key and the Door to complete the level. They also have to defeat the Monster in each Door. Every player will have 12 Doors to challenge. The main difference with Spirealm is when it's game over, it's really game over. Dun dun dun. 

Lin Jiu Shi's First Door: Well Ghost. The female ghost resides in the well. Her hair has a life of its own. She's been lurking at night, haunting the players. By the morning, one is dead. Nobody knows which rules were violated. Now there's 11 left (Name of key players: Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke). The Chief assigns them to make a coffin. Keeps getting creepier..]

[Ep3] Lin Jiu Shi asks an NPC about the well, and says the right words for the NPCs to divulge. Like this: 

Liu Jiu Shi: I killed the wolf. 

Ruan Bai Jie (in sotto voce): I killed that. 

Liu Jiu Shi: Yours and mine, what's the difference? Don't be so distant. 

 

While Lin Jiu Shi is hacking away at the tree (to make the coffin), Ruan Bai Jie is chilling~ Not only is he not doing any work, he's adding more work for Lin Jiu Shi. He needs to be piggybacked because his shoulder is hurting, and it's common sense we can't walk without our shoulders. Didn't know? Please update yourself.  Fortunately, Lin Jiu Shi carried this log (Ruan Bai Jie) over that log (the tree) or else he would have been one of the three who died lugging the tree. It's as if Ruan Bai Jie knew not to trust the Lady NPC who advised the three players to carry one log together. 

The Lady NPC's new recommendation: pray at the temple one by one. Ruan Bai Jie disregards the instructions. He wants to go in together, but everyone is afraid, and so he only drags Lin Jiu Shi with him. They bow to the temple goddess together. 

In the end, only 2 go in alone... 

[Ep4] ....and those 2 are masticated by the Well Ghost. Sounds awfully delicious....

There's 6 left. 

Maybe 5 because 1 is deranged. He's seeing the Well Ghost in the reflection of a female player.

Ruan Bai Jie knows the taboos, but he isn't transparent with the others. In sotto voce, he warns Lin Jiu Shi that "we" must know how to protect "ourselves" first. 

Lin Jiu Shi: "Us"

Ruan Bai Jie: You and I, silly. 

Ruan Bai Jie thinks that if another player dies, the Well Ghost might be satiated. 

Ruan Bai Jie: Kill one to save everyone else, or save one, which will you choose? 

Lin Jiu Shi: I don't know. I...can't choose. 

Night falls. Ruan Bai Jie is caught by the ghost. He hollers at Lin Jiu Shi to back away and not to look down at the well. Lin Jiu Shi obeys, but he doesn't abandon Ruan Bai Jie either. He grabs fire to repel the ghost. Ruan Bai Jie is moved. He gives Lin Jiu Shi a necklace. A protective charm? 

2 more players die. They listened to the Lady NPC and both stared down the well. 

By now if you're Chinese (or capable of searching Chinese), you'd catch on to the taboos. They're all part of an old saying:  

一人不進廟,

兩人不看井, 

三人不抱樹, 

獨坐莫憑欄. 

One person will not enter the temple,

Two will not look down the well,

Three will not carry a tree. 

Alone; will not lean on the railing. 

The long story short: the general moral is 害人之心不可有，防人之心不可無.  You must not have the intention of harming others, but you must have the intention of protecting yourself. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Save everyone or save one

This is the ultimate question for Lin Jiu Shi. Our Show deliberately returned to this very cabin for the 12th Door to revisit this theme. In the past Lin Jiu Shi's friend chose to save everyone first and not him. In the last arc, Lin Jiu Shi has to make this decision: save everyone or save Ruan Lan Zhu. (Lin Jiu Shi's choice is limited, however, when Ruan Lan Zhu can't be saved.) The solution Lin Jiu Shi chose was not to abandon, and to go through everything together. That's what Lin Jiu Shi would have wanted from his friend, to be together till the very end.

Well Ghost

The Well Ghost is Lin Jiu Shi. She's named Xiao Jiu too, and her mother mentioned that she would have been LJS's age by now. She's the mirror character of Lin Jiu Shi's past. She was abandoned by her loved ones to save everyone else. In the end, Xiao Jiu only wanted companionship and a sincere apology. It's poignant to note that Lin Jiu Shi imagined a loving mother for Xiao Jiu.....unlike himself. He was abandoned by his mother too, not just his best friend ):

[Ep5] The coffin is complete. There's a key inside, which Ruan Bai Jie snatches it for Lin Jiu Shi. Whoever gets the key gets the critical hint to the next Door. It's so valuable, and Ruan Bai Jie handed it over to Lin Jiu Shi just like that. Ruan Bai Jie also knows the door's location. It's in the well. They take the dead wolf ("killed by Lin Jiu Shi") to satiate the ghost. All that's left is for Lin Jiu Shi to put the key in the keyhole. Well, we fail at that. (However, I think is part of the level's design rather than him being clumsy and Xiao Ke's intervention).

The last of our 4 players explore the bottom of the well. There's paintings on the wall, emitting a strong sense of loneliness, penetrating Lin Jiu Shi's heart. Ruan Bai Jie teases him for being sensitive. 

[Ep6] Lin Jiu Shi realizes Ruan Bai Jie faked his injury, but more than that he realized he prevented him from carrying the tree. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Why are you protecting me? 

Ruan Bai Jie: You should get used to being protected.

Lin Jiu Shi: Ah so feigning your injury was for me? 

Ruan Bai Jie: That was for fun. I wanted us to be closer. 

Ruan Bai Jie also wants Lin Jiu Shi to join his team. He says Lin Ji Shi is talented. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Am I? How did I not know? 

Ruan Bai Jie: From you, there is light. 

Lin Jiu Shi: You gave me this [necklace] because you want me to join? 

Ruan Bai Jie: No. Because you are you. Ruan Bai Jie chose Lin Jiu Shi because he's simply Lin Jiu Shi. That actually means the world to Lin Jiu Shi. 

[Ep7] The first door is complete. The "key" was to resolve the Well Ghost's (Xiao Jiu) resentment from being abandoned. The family of three hug each other. The key appears. 

Ruan Bai Jie: [The key] is still yours (Lin Jiu Shi). 

We're back in reality. Hmm. He can wear the coat out of the game. The time is 10:48pm. It’s only been 15 mins out here when it was 3 days in the game. 

Ruan Bai Jie's real name is Ruan Lan Zhu. His organization is called Obsidian. An obsidian is a black-coloured mineral believed to be a symbol for Clarity. That's literally how it's translated in Chinese => Black Illuminated Rock. Its pinyin also sounds like Black Key. The members include Cheng Qian Li, Cheng Yi Xie, (the twins), Lu Yan Xue (the girl), Chen Fei (the vet), and Yi Man Man. A note on the idiom that Cheng Yi Xie hates: 

• 一瀉千里 (Yi Xie Qian Li). It's used to describe water flowing straight down, smooth and fast. Often used to compliment smooth writing (unrestrained momentum). 
• 一瀉 (Yi Xie) by itself can mean One Diarrhea. This is why Cheng Yi Xie uses a different "Xie" 

They all seem shocked when Lin Jiu Shi reveals his hint for his 2nd Door: Fitcher's Bird. With my PhD in Google, I found these: 

• "Fitcher's Bird is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a wizard who captures young women and takes them to this house in the forest. He forbids them to enter a room but kills them when they do. Three sisters are captured, the third saves her sisters and the wizard is burned."
• Moral: "The Grimm brothers provide the reader with a life lesson focusing on how innocence and curiosity can ultimately lead to your downfall, but with the help of family, you can learn to overcome those obstacles and prevent those situations from happening again." 

Ruan Lan Zhu leaves for 15 minutes because he's got another Door to pass. When he's back, he's injured (not faking), and Lin Jiu Shi applies medicine for him. 

Lin Jiu Shi: In the Door, you’re different.

Ruan Bai Jie: In the Door and out the Door, you’re the only person I’ve met who’s the same. 

Lin Jiu Shi: So you’re saying in the Door and out the Door, there’s one that’s fake. 

Ruan Bai Jie: There’s also one that’s real. The him with Lin Jiu Shi right now. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

The conversation about being different in and out the door

This convo rings differently when you realize Ruan Bai Jie is fake either way. But he's real to Lin Jiu Shi...(I dunno guys, I think this is unhealthily sad)

[Ep8] Lin Jiu Shi's 2nd Door is wicked. Although this is a low level door, no one has ever survived this one. Ruan Lan Zhu promises to accompany him, though, which goes against the principles of his organization. He stops helping players beyond the 6th level because it's dangerous, but he's risking it for Lin Jiu Shi. Lin Jiu Shi is baffled that Raun Lan Zhu views so highly of him. Is he really that impressive? 

Ruan Lan Zhu: It's not you. It's me who's impressive to see your impressiveness.  

However, Lin Jiu Shi rejects cooperating with Ruan Lan Zhu. Lin Jiu Shi just doesn't want to play the game anymore. But the Doors cannot be rejected (and Lin Jiu Shi will have to learn this the long way).

Later, Chen Fei asks Ruan Lan Zhu if he's decided on Lin Jiu Shi as his partner (over Yi Man Man). Ruan Lan Zhu hasn't made the choice yet. "To purify/restore this game isn't a moment's decision." He twirls his chopstick, staring at the noodle that Lin Jiu Shi made for him. His intuition tells him that Lin Jiu Shi is the one. At night, he stares at the kaleidoscope, pondering. 

The next day, Lin Jiu Shi witnesses the tragedy of the game. The players who died in the 1st Door will die in reality. The doors truly cannot be rejected. Lin Jiu Shi enters his 2nd. 

Lin Jiu Shi's 2nd Door: Fitcher's Bird

Ruan Lan Zhu (as "Zhu Meng") is there with a newbie: Xu Xiao Cheng (an actress). Lin Jiu Shi pretends to meet him for the first time, and smartly caught on to his signal to introduce himself with a pseudonym: Yu Ling Ling. Ruan Lan Zhu and Lin Jiu Shi are the fist ones to take the elevator. Only the 14th floor works (14 in Chinese sounds like Must Die). 

Lin Jiu Shi teases Ruan Lan Zhu that it's a heavenly match between him and Xu Xiao Cheng: both drama-queens. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: She doesn't act nearly as well as you. "The real match is you and me". 

It's 1985. The Master NPC tells the triplets not to drop their egg with special mention to triplet #2. What kind of perversion is this. 

[Ep9] The Master NPC is 40 years old. He orders each player to take an egg, and to take care of the egg. Three days later, they're to attend his daughters' birthday. The eldest is Xiao Tu, the second is Xiao Shi, and the youngest is Xiao Yi. Their names are Tu 土, Shi 十, and Yi 一. Combining the last two characters will make the first. Does this matter? No. Sorry, lol. 

Ruan Lan Zhu makes sure he shares a room with Lin Jiu Shi. Xu Xiao Cheng (the girl) is unwanted by Ruan Lan Zhu. But the three of them gather again to search the other floors for hints. From the 14th to the 7th, there's no signs of life. On the 7th, there's a sign of....something that's not living. There's a ghost-boy, holding an egg in his mouth. 

The 4th floor finally has traces of living beings. How do we know? There's garbage. Garbage <= humans. Appropriate. Living on this floor is a Crazy Scientist NPC who says he has a time machine, and an Old Lady NPC who warns them to stay indoors at12:35pm, and that they will be swallowed by the building. 

The triplets ask the players if they can differentiate them. Nobody answers, including Lin Jiu Shi. Then he hears the girls giggling. Lin Jiu Shi no longer has the bravery to shower. Only one guy is indifferent. He showers, but then someone steals his egg and drops it. 

Ruan Lan Zhu can tell the triplets apart! He smugly prods Lin Jiu Shi to beg him to reveal the triplet solution. Lin Jiu Shi is just as smug. He already knows. So why didn't you answer the first time, dude! 

[Ep10] Lin Jiu Shi saw Ruan Lan Zhu leave markings on the triplets when they introduced themselves. Clever! 

Tian Yan / Tang Yao Yao (part of X organization) knows someone will die tonight, which means she sabotaged the Shower Guy. It had nothing to do with the triplets. 

D-2. Breakfast is served....with the dead man's flesh.... I, uhhhh, don't want to look too closely at what that actually was....  A player (manipulated by Tian Yan) murders the Master NPC, thinking that's the key to this Door, but the Master does not die. He's imperishable. Our players learn the taboo after seeing the Master execute the player. They must not crack their eggs. But what's up with the triplets asking about their names? 

Xu Xiao Cheng's life has never been so fragile like an egg until now. Meanwhile, Lin Jiu Shi tosses his up and down. OMG. DUDE. That's like throwing my heart jumping out of its socket and back down again. 

Lin Jiu Shi and Ruan Lan Zhu explore the 7th floor again. In room 720, there's a 2010 calendar. Suddenly, the door slams, and they're trapped inside. They wait for Xu Xiao Cheng, but she's caught up with the triplets. She fails at identifying them, and that's when it's clear it didn't matter if she was right or wrong, the triplets just wanted to play, and if the players cooperated, they'll be given new information. From the triplets, Xu Xiao Cheng gets the key to 720 to save our boys. Lin Jiu Shi hops up and drops his egg, unwittingly. There's a small crack. Maybe he'll be fine?!!? He has no idea because Ruan Lan Zhu switched theirs! Awww. 

[Ep11] The foreseeable misfortune: "Ruan Lan Zhu" is attacked at night. The Master almost killed him through the wall. Ruan Lan Zhu's pretty head would have been tomato-ed! Lin Jiu Shi feels the pressure to eliminate the Master before the Master eliminates Ruan Lan Zhu. Through "playing" with the triplets, we learn more about the Master. When he was 10yo, a madman held him and his mother hostage. If they dropped their eggs from their mouths, he'd kill them. That's how the Master's mother died. She dropped her egg. After learning this disturbing story, it's time for bed... Ruan Lan Zhu lies on Lin Jiu Shi's side of the bed to protect him. Awwww. 

Lin Jiu Shi finally realizes the cracked egg is his. Ruan Lan Zhu thought switching them would change the Master's target, but it's futile. The boys switch back their eggs. Then Ruan Lan Zhu deliberately drops his. MY HEART JUMPED OUT.

[Ep12] Ruan Lan Zhu will die with Lin Jiu Shi, omg. Lin Jiu Shi is stupefied Ruan Lan Zhu will go to such lengths for him. Ruan Lan Zhu's answer is one and the same: he believes Lin Jiu Shi will lead everyone to find the key and save everyone; from him, there is a light that only he has. 

D-Day. It's the Birthday Party. Xu Xiao Cheng says she couldn't sleep at all. I don't know who's the girl dreaming out loud then, lol. Ruan Lan Zhu is the true sleeping beauty, sleeping through the entire night. Only Lin Jiu Shi couldn't sleep. 

The Master sings Happy Birthday to the triplets. Omg hahahahaha. This is the CREEPIEST happy birthday I've ever heard in my life. Ruan Lan Zhu joins in because he's finding it eerie as hell. Then Xu Xiao Cheng chimes in but she's tone deaf. LOL. Ruan Lan Zhu gives her the side-eye, loooool. After the scariest birthday song is over, the cake is served. It's bloody. There's even bone in it. 

Our players thought they could kill the Master with fire, but he really is imperishable....except he seems to have one weakness: he can't go to the 7th floor.  Our team realizes he's the ghost-boy in 2010. When he was 40yo (2040) he took the time machine to go back to save his mother, but the machine glitched. and brought him to 1985 when his mother was 10yo. Now there's only half an hour until 12:35 pm before this world will be swallowed whole. It's a race against time! 

[Ep13] The Master refuses to return to the 7th floor because he doesn't want to leave his mother. (The assumption is if he leaves his timezone, he goes back to 2040, and not 2010 on the 7th floor.) He trains his mother to hold an egg in 1985 to prepare her for 2010. Among the 3, #2 is his mother because he favours her. 

The players devise a new plan to kidnap #3 in order to take her back home (as the fairytale suggests in Ep7). They don't have an alternative. They distract the Master by holding #2 hostage (his precious Mother). However, Tian Yan ruins the plan. She shoves #2 down the building. Her logic: if Mother dies, the Master won't exist. Fortunately, Tian Yan ravels into this fall and cushions the Master and his mother. They survive. She's pancaked.  

It's 12:30pm. 5 more minutes and they'll all perish. But wait! There's a time machine. They (including Master and Mother) take it to 2010, right before the Mother is killed. I like how polite Xu Xiao Cheng is. She apologized to the mother for knocking her over when it's not her fault, lol. 2010-Mother is saved, but this means the 40yo Master will cease to exist. 

Lin Jiu Shi: There will be a new you. The you right now won't exist. Is this worth it? 

Ruan Lan Zhu: Worthy or not, it doesn't matter. I just want my mother to live. 

Xu Xiao Cheng comforts the l985-10yo-Mother that it may be hard for her to understand, but this man  her son – needs a farewell from her.  He's going to "die". Awwwwwww :( 

Before unlocking the Door, Lin Jiu Shi wears the necklace from Ruan Lan Zhu. He's accepting the partnership to be together forever. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

The numbers

I don't know if this is relevant. The last "monster" was Xiao Jiu (Little 9). This Door, there's a Xiao Shi (Little 10). There's no more numbers after this, though.

The master and his mother

The master is a projection of Lin Jiu Shi. In the final scene, the new 40yo son gives his mother a kaleidoscope, a toy Lin Jiu Shi loves. These first two Doors really show Lin Jiu Shi's yearn for motherly love. This is the future he's envisioning if his mother had loved him too.

The existential crisis

"Worthy or not, it doesn't matter." In the end, Lin Jiu Shi only wants Ruan Lan Zhu to exist. Like the Master, Lin Jiu Shi will use his existence to save the one he truly cares for: Ruan Lan Zhu. It's the same for Ruan Lan Zhu. Also like the Master, Lin Jiu Shi and Ruan Lan Zhu just need a proper farewell from the one they love.

[Ep14] Rejoice! Lin Jiu Shi cohabitates with Ruan Lan Zhu and co, but they don't matter in this case. It's mostly because Ruan Lan Zhu promised the cat (Li Zi = Chestnut) will finally cuddle with Lin Jiu Shi. The little smile Ruan Lan Zhu had when he saw Lin Jiu Shi was all packed up ready to live with him. Awww?? 

The others living with Ruan Lan Zhu call him "ge". He doesn't like it... because we should call him "jie"?....Because he doesn't want Li Jiu Shi to call him "ge" bur rather "wifey"?

Ruan Lan Zhu survives the 10th Door – barely. Despite his injuries, he's determined to take the boys (Lin Jiu Shi and Cheng Qian Li) to pass their next door. The hint: Human Skin Drum. Just great. There's a folklore that skinning living virgin girls to make drums will turn time around. Leave us girls alone, man D: A meimei was chosen, but her jiejie sacrificed in her stead. The meimei continues to search for her jiejie. 

At night, Ruan Lan Zhu is in Lin Jiu Shi's room. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Why are you here?

Ruan Lan Zhu: I need you. 

Lin Jiu Shi: What does that mean? 

Ruan Lan Zhu: It means what I meant, meaning you cannot die. 

Lin Jiu Shi: You can say this clearer. Dude. Clearer? You need it spelled? 

Ruan Lan Zhu gives Lin Jiu Shi a kaleidoscope, telling him that some people (Lin) belong to the world of doors. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

The cat: Li Zi / Chestnut

Could Lin Jiu Shi have personified his cat (Li Zi) into the creation of Ruan Lan Zhu? They're both LZ. Chen Fei being a (somewhat) personal vet/doctorfor Ruan Lan Zhu also lines up.

[Ep15] New players: 

1. Xu Jin. Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't like her already: she sticks to Lin Jiu Shi because he reminds her of "A Hui". She also doesn't realize this is a team. 
2. Meng Yu. He's from Bailu (another organization). He takes players through doors for money. 
3. Two members from X Organization (which includes Xiong Qi, Xiao Ke, Tian Yan (dead), and Xia jie)

Tour Guide NPC (super creepy woman who keeps smiling with steady eyes) warns everyone not to look up. Tall SO anyone? You're never seeing their face again. 

[Ep16] When Xu Jin goes "Ling Ling ge", Ruan Lan Zhi goes "Ling Ling ge ~" too. He makes sure Xu Jin knows she's older than him, and he's her meimei didi. Lol. He serves his green tea scathing. 

A Witch NPC is grinding bones and eyeballs… She tells the players a story. A pair of sisters attended a funeral. The meimei fell in love with someone (alive) there. They return home and then jiejie dies. Just what kind of story is this? 

Then our players explore a sacred tower. Xu Jin finds it creepy and waits at the bottom. At the top, Lin Jiu Shi is pushed by a bride who vanishes as quickly as she appeared. 

It rains later, but it's not raining water. It's raining needles. The man (from X) dies from millions of needles perforating his every cell. 

At night, Xu Jin says she's scared and cold. She wants to sleep next to Lin Jiu Shi. He's hilariously serious in rejecting her. 

Lin Jiu Shi: You're too fat

Xu Jin: No need. I have a lot of adipose. I can probably endure through this. LOL. 

Ruan Lan Zhu must have been awake because he's amused in the morning. He asks Lin Jiu Shi about his ex-girlfriends, but Lin Jiu Shi has never been in a relationship. Look who's smitten: Ruan Lan Zhu. 

Creepy Tour Guide NPC has new rules: Don't speak loudly. 

[Ep17] At the sacred tower, Lin Jiu Shi is under a trance and daymares: 1) Xu Jin stroking the drum and 2) a bride seeking for someone (woman). This triggers thoughts of his past. He was trapped under rubles, pleading with a hooded figure not to abandon him. A hypnotizing voice entrances him to jump off the tower. Ruan Lan Zhu wakes him from his daymare, and so does the hooded figure. 

Meng Yu's real name is Li Dong Yuan, the leader of Bailu. He's in love with Ruan Bai Jie. LOL. 

Li Dong Yuan's customer dies from screaming. Laugh-groaning here. 

At night, Cheng Qian Li is too scared to sleep alone and squeezes in with Lin Jiu Shi. Xu Jin is miffed. Isn't he too fat to sleep with him? Lin Jiu Shi is honest."He's not fat." LOL.  The next morning, bloody footprints encircle Lin Jiu Shi's bed. 

[Ep18] From a bird's eye view, we can see that the sacred tower is actually made of a drum (... from whose skin?). The haunting bride is the jiejie, walking without her feet, seeking for her meimei. 

At night, the Tour Guide NPC instructs all 9 players to be on time tomorrow. However, there's 10 players... The next morning, the bloody footprints appear again. 

Through Xu Jin's diary, even the stupidest kid (= Cheng Qian Li) can understand the story behind this Door: Xu Jin is the meimei who killed her jiejie to make "A Hui" love her instead. The only reason Cheng Qian Li put 2 and 2 together is because he understands why meimei would be jealous of the love between jiejie and jiefu. He too is in admiration of such love like the one between Ruan Lan Zhu and his hubby, Lin Jiu Shi. Aw, lol. (There are 9 players because Xu Jin is an NPC). 

[Ep19] Li Dong Yuan presents a betrothal gift (the key) to Ruan Lan Zhu for Ruan Bai Jie's hand, LOL. But this is actually a battle of wits between the boys. The key is fake and Ruan Lan Zhu knows. 

Every night it seems Xu Jin wakes up to shower at the pond....but her showers are a lot more than just skinny dipping... She takes off her skin too! Now that's thorough. But eek, she's disgusting! She's the real "Monster" of this Door. The bloody footprints are from her squeaky, fleshy, skinless feet. She gave up her original skin to make the drum. The skin she's wearing is her sister's. Her sister's foot is the drum stick. Omg, drumsticks. However, even then, A Hui only loves jiejie. 

Xu Jin wants to kill Lin Jiu Shi to keep her in this world. She provokes him that they're the same: lonely, and damaged. From young, they never received love. He says he's different. He cherishes what he has now and isn't envious of others. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Xu Jin and Lin Jiu Shi

Xu Jin is Lin Jiu Shi's cowardly, evil self – the one who's jealous, hurt, and abandoned. She also has a kaleidoscope (that's like ID-ing Lin Jiu Shi). The way Xu Jin is jealous of her sister is drawn from Lin Jiu Shi's envy of his half-sister (who's receiving all the love from his mother).

[Ep20] The Door is complete when Xu Jin is returned to her sister (the bride), but she makes a last ditch attempt to capture Lin Jiu Shi, insisting that he's her A Hui. Lin Jiu Shi lays down the bare truth, "The one you love isn't me, but my skin. You're too superficial. You'll never receive love." She really is skin deep....or not even.... 

Okay, one more last ditch attempt: Xu Jin gives Lin Jiu Shi a brain concussion right before he leaves the door. I don't think it's at all any compensation worthy of brain-whammy, but He does get her diary, an item to be used for different levels. 

[Ep21] Wu Qi checks on his buddy (and ex-roommate), Lin Jiu Shi, in case Obsidian is some sketchy organization, but he's assured when he sees how handsome Ruan Lan Zhu is. The jury is still out if WQ is a good friend or not, hahaha. 

Zhuang Ru Jiao is the new Obsidian member. Cheng Qian Li doesn't like her because Ruan Lan Zhu favours her now. He asks if Lin Jiu Shi is jealous. Nope. Lin Jiu Shi knows deep down that he's irreplaceable.......yeah? Honestly, I think he's just oblivious to everything. Afterwards, Ruan Lan Zhu tells the clueless Lin Jiu Shi to endure (Zhuang Ru Jiao) just one more week. It's like speaking to a rock. Lin Jiu Shi lacks the capacity to understand Ruan Lan Zhu is telling him to not be jealous. Ruan Lan Zhu pokes his forehead when Lin Jiu Shi draws a blank. Baka. 

Zhuang Ru Jiao is hospitalized from over-exhaustion. Ruan Lan Zhu feeds her a banana, an apple, another banana, and another apple. Chen Fei brings more fruits. They're stuffing her to replenish her energy so they can do it all over again. Traumatized, Zhang Ru Jiao gulps down her mouthful of fruits. She promises she can keep up with Ruan Lan Zhu's pace. Lin Jiu Shi is genuinely amazed. He rewards her: a full meal after her recovery. 

Zhang Ru Jiao flees. Vanishes! She's actually Bailu's spy on a mission to find "Ruan Bai Jie" for her lovesick leader, Li Dong Yuan. Hehehe. Lin Jiu Shi laughs at Ruan Lan Zhu, which prompt him to ask this: 

Ruan Lan Zhu: Is Bai Jie better, or me? 

Lin Jiu Shi: Aren't they both you? I'll translate for you, Ruan ge! No matter what form you show up in, Lin Jiu Shi only sees you for you. How about that? ;D

[Ep22] Xu Xiao Cheng is a real actress: Tan Zao Zao. She's in the middle of filming with an actor, if you call him an actor. He only counts 1-10 for his lines, and he even messes up that. Spectacular.

Li Dong Yuan repeatedly visits Ruan Lan Zhu asking for Ruan Bai Jie. Apparently they talked on the phone, and "she" yelled at him, which was like music to his ears. Ha. Seeing how proactive he is, Ruan Lan Zhu asks Lin Jiu Shi whether he's proactive or passive in a relationship. Lin Jiu Shi doesn't have a love life to know.....

Ruan Lan Zhu: Don't worry. If you can't find a girlfriend, you can find something else. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Like a cat? 

Ruan Lan Zhu: You are single by skill indeed. 

Lin Jiu Shi: So not a cat? Then how about gaming? 

The hint to their upcoming Door: Zuo Zi (leftie). It's a Japanese folklore. No one helped Zuo Zi in a car accident. She lost her legs (and life). There's a nursery rhyme mocking her. The composer died and lost their legs. The last line is "I don't have my legs. Can you give me yours?"  Sing this part, and Zuo Zi will take away your legs. 

Lin Jiu Shi is reminded of himself when they read about Zuo Zi, a bully-victim. He tells "Nan Zhu" (he called him without his surname~~ I think Ruan Lan Zhu felt that) that he had a really good friend, the forever kind. Ruan Lan Zhu (keeping it under control yo) tells him he should bring him "home" to be "their guest". Y'all have to read between the lines. He's being very clear who the "us" and "them" are. He's saying "home" for him and Lin Jiu Shi, and "guest" for the friend. But Lin Jiu Shi has lost contact with this friend.

Ruan Lan Zhu: That's life. Halfway, you get on the bus, or you get off the bus. As long as you're not at the terminal, you'll never know who will be there with you till the end. But you will not be lonely. Because you still have us. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

The conversation: "find something else"

In the end, Lin Jiu Shi did spend his life with his cat and his game. I really think he might have treated his Li Zi (cat) as Lan Zhu. 

The conversation:  "terminal"

At Ruan Lan Zhu's terminal, Lin Jiu Shi was with him every step of the way (although he needed a wake up call from Wu QI). At Lin Jiu Shi's terminal, Ruan Lan Zhu will be there...... (virtually)

[Ep23] Xiong Qi recruits Lin Jiu Shi on behalf of X Organization. Lin Jiu Shi has no intention of joining, he just wants to put a face to this evil boss, but they did a switcharoo. We also don't ever get to see this boss properly.... 

[Ep24] Door commences. Li Dong Yuan and Zhuang Ru Jiao are here as well, and now we've got a love square: Zhuang Ru Jiao likes Li Dong Yuan, Li Dong Yuan likes Ruan Lan Zhu Ruan Bai Jie, and Ruan Lan Zhu lurrrvess Lin Jiu Shi and has reserved his meimei (i.e. himself) for Lin Jiu Shi. As for, Lin Jiu Shi, he's Lin Jiu Shi. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Li Dong Yuan and Zhuang Ru Jiao

I'm cherishing these eps T_T.

[Ep25] Ruan Lan Zhu tells Li Dong Yuan that Zhuang Ru Jiao likes him. He had no idea. Him and Lin Jiu Shi, the one true idiots of love. 

[Ep26] A second player dies. His left leg is ripped from his hip. It's like how you eat your chicken wings, flip them in every angle to get all the flesh. You're welcome. Rise and shine! Nothing happened to our leads last night and here they are sweetly exchange good mornings: 

Rise and vomiting is Zhuang Ru Jiao. She's retching at the corpse, which confuses Lin Jiu Shi because she had so much stamina before. Ruan Lan Zhu had investigated her previously. She was poor growing up. She's used to enduring until she breaks. Li Dong Yuan tells her to rest. She insists that she can do it. 

Li Dong Yuan: You're not going to listen to even my words now?

*Romantic music* 

Zhang Ru Jiao obediently nods. 

Aw. Ruan Lan Zhu is enjoying the melon. 

The two in a one-sided love

The two idiotic objects of love

The taboo that's killing the players is reciting the last line of the nursery rhyme. Zhuang Ru Jiao wonders if they need to inform the others. Ruan Lan Zhu compliments her genrosity. It's the one and only compliment he's ever given her. Then he's back to being childish and duels her in a drumstick eating contest. Ruan Lan Zhu is so perceptive. He wasn't being childish, but rather making sure she eats. This guy keeps giving, and barely anyone notices. But oh, of all food it's drumsticks...legs.... Is Show doing this on purpose?

[Ep27] This Door's Monster is Lu Zuo Zi. She's haunting the hallways, hoping on her only leg, and inciting players to recite the line that will kill them. Our team learns she was the only poor student in this elite school. Her family comes from the fishing industry. She was a victim of bullying. Nearly all her classmates have already died, all in a car accident, and all missing their left leg. Jiang Xin Hong is one of the rare students still with two legs. 

At night, Lin Jiu Shi is haunted by Zuo Zi. He's protected by a kaleidoscope...

[Ep28] When Lin Jiu Shi returns to find the kaleidoscope, it has vanished. 

Lin Jiu Shi empathizes with Zuo Zi. He was bullied too. 

Jiang Xin Hong (the student who still has two legs for now) reveals that he didn't want to bully Zuo Zi, but he didn't want to be targeted either. He unwillingly joined the others against her. But in the photo, the very last scene, he was smirking....D: 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Zuo Zi and Lin Jiu Shi

Zuo Zi is another part of Lin Jiu Shi. He was bullied, his father had a smelly job too, and he was betrayed by his "crush" too, well, his "best friend". Zuo Zi's car accident is equivalent to Lin Jiu Shi being trapped in the rubble, and being abandoned by his crush. 

[Ep29] Zhang Ru Jiao refuses to believe that Jiang Xin Hong wasn't involved in the bullying. She was a victim too. Her and Lin Jiu Shi emotionally connect on this one. He grew up being ostracized. His father gave him a kaleidoscope, but it was snatched by the bullies. He was saved by his best friend. After sharing their past, Lin Jiu Shi tells Zhuang Ru Jiao the truth about "Ruan Bai Jie". She laughs, but she won't tell Li Dong Yuan because as long as he's happy, she's happy too. She believes that he'll notice her one day. He will!!! 

Mou Kai is the one other student who's still standing. He transferred. He has connections with the School Director. He tells our team a different version of the story. Jiang Xin Hong was the worst of them all. He made a bet with the boys that he could make Zuo Zi fall in love with him. He played with her heart, and tore it to pieces. 

[Ep30] Two years ago, after bullying Zuo Zi and leaving her to die, none of her classmates mourned for her. They even mocked her with the nursery rhyme. Everyone who sang the song died. Mou Kai and Jiang Xin Hong were only spared because they didn't sing. 

An intermission: Ruan Lan Zhu is jealous of Zhuang Ru Jiao because Lin Jiu Shi had a heart to heart conversation with her and not him. Hmph! 

At night, Zuo Zi haunts Lin Jiu Shi again, but it's because she likes that they both like kaleidoscopes. She gives him a hint: a group photo. Our team had found another version of the group photo without her. Her version has everyone except the two boys who are still alive. She's telling Lin Jiu Shi the boys have to pay for her death just like everyone she already killed. 

Ruan Lan Zhu seems jealous again that every female Door God/Moster is interested in Lin Jiu Shi. I mean....dude's being haunted by all of them. I'd be jealous too....... 

Mo Kai is murdered. One more to go... Jiang Xin Hong tells the final version of the truth (in the next episode).  

[Ep31] Jiang Xin Hong knew Zuo Zi since they were kids. He gave her the kaleidoscope. He went to a different high school, but they would still meet on the weekends. One day her parents died in a car accident. The driver was Mo Kai. His family gave money to Zuo Zi's grandparents and promised to cover Zuo Zi's education. Mo Kai hated seeing her around and rallied the students into bullying her. He noticed Jiang Xin Hong was kind to her and pressured him into writing her a love letter to mess with her. Jiang Xin Hong was spineless, but he had his reasons too: his parents worked under Mo Kai's family. 

On the day of the trip, Jiang Xin Hong tried to apologize to Zuo Zi, but Mou Kai caught him. Mo Kai was the one who pushed her into the road where a car ran over her. Mo Kai murdered her and her family. Jiang Xin Hong wrote the song in remembrance of her, but Mo Kai modified it. 

Our team convinces Jiang Xin Hong to apologize to Zuo Zi, and that's all she actually needed. He said he would give her his leg. She smiles. Aw. She's cute. The door is complete. 

Right before they leave, Ruan Lan Zhu tells Li Dong Yuan the humiliating truth. Ruan Bai Jie is him. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Jiang Xin Hong

Lin Jiu Shi must have wished his best friend (Gao Da Wei) was like Jiang Xin Hong. He wanted a sincere apology that it was all a misunderstanding, and that it wasn't his intention to abandon him.

[Ep32] Here's the heart to heart talk Ruan Lan Zhu wanted with Lin Jiu Shi about their past friendships except Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't remember anything, and Lin Jiu Shi has just about (n)one (anymore). Why even share, lol. Lin Jiu Shi finds his forgetfulness strange. Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't disagree. "There will be more strange things for you to learn about me from now until forever". He is grateful that Lin Jiu Shi had a friend or else he would be like Zuo Zi. Lin Jiu Shi is ambivalent. He had a best friend, yes, but it was also that friend who abandoned him. 

Ruan Lan Zhu picks up the phone call of profanity. Who else could it be other than Li Dong Yuan! Ruan Lan Zhu compensates Li Dong Yuan by recommending a rich customer (or more like Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't want to deal with the hassle). Li Dong Yuan gives Ruan Lan Zhu commission: a pull tab (worth a dollar). Both these boys are petty, lol. Li Dong Yuan isn't at all worried about this Door. He bought a hint. Ruan Lan Zhu seems concerned, though. 

[Ep33] Ruan Lan Zhu asks Chen Fei to keep an eye on the door that Li Dong Yuan just entered because he's worried, which is a foreign concept to Chen Fei. Ruan Lan Zhu wasn't like this before he met Lin Jiu Shi. Chen Fei also asks if Ruan Lan Zhu has settled on Lin Jiu Shi over Yi Man Man. Sir, don't you get tired of asking this. Y-E-S. Ruan Lan Zhu has chosen Lin Jiu Shi. He says Yi Man Man is boring. Chen Fei says the Doors don't need interesting. Ruan ge does! There is no simply no reason needed for Ruan Lan Zhu to choose Lin Jiu Shi. 

Ruan Lan Zhu was worried about Li Dong Yuan because he suspected the bought hint was fake. It is. Li Dong Yuan barely survived. He's not taking that customer (a director, a referral from Tan Zao Zao) anymore. Tan Zao Zao phones Lin Jiu Shi to be the middleman in connecting the director to Ruan Lan Zhu again. Lin Jiu Shi doesn't get why she's asking him for help. Yo. She's like He gives you special treatment, and you don't even have to call him Ruan ge! 

Lin Jiu Shi: You think I don't want to call him that? He's younger than me. Loool. That's not the point though!! 

It's (Chinese) New Year. The house is empty except for Ruan Lan Zhu and Lin Jiu Shi who have no family to return to. Tan Zao Zao wants to stay for dinner, but Ruan Lan Zhu emphasizes this is their family dinner. Don't interrupt this man savouring handmade dumplings from the love of his life! 

Lin Jiu Shi asks Ruan Lan Zhu how he got into playing Spirealm. He says it was by chance and by necessity. He's powerful because he can see what others can't like the light emitting from Lin Jiu Shi.  

Lin Jiu Shi (the bane of my existence): The light from the ceiling? 

Ruan Lan Zhu: Those can be turned off, but yours will never.

[Ep34] Tan Zao Zao's 3rd Door (with a Russian background) takes place in a psychiatric hospital. A nurse died in Rm 502. She was pregnant, but no one knows the father of her unborn child.  

Nothing new with X Organization other than being an extra pain in the butt: Xie jie orders Jiang Ying Rui to kill Meng Meng to frame Lin Jiu Shi to break Xiong Qi's trust in him. 

The Nurse NPC's instructions are: 1) only eat in the canteen and no outside food, 2) don't leave their rooms after 8pm, 3) beware of patients, and 4) must not touch the alarm. At 8pm there's a cacophony of disturbing noises. A nurse had fallen from a window, crashing to the ground. Her skin is pearly and her heels are red. Then her bones begin to snap. She's contorting, twisting, and swivelling her bones until they snap into her joints. Once she's aligned, she walks back to Rm502 with a sword in hand. For the entire night, she's crashing, and snapping herself again, and again. 

[Ep35] Our team explores the real Rm 502. There's a baby doll. 

Jiang Ying Rui kills Meng Meng by putting crackers (outside food) in her water. Immediately, a patient kills her, but what's really disembowelling is that a man eviscerates from within the patient's body and thrusts himself into Meng Meng's body cavity. 

Jiang Yin Rui targets our team now, but fails. He wanted to replace the room number to 502 so that the zombie-nurse would kill them at night. Ruan Lan Zhu and Lin Jiu Shi store the 502 placard in the room across, but this room is peculiar. It connects to a new space, distinct from the hospital. It's Lin Jiu Shi's university dorm! Just what connections does Lin Jiu Shi have with this game? It's the clearest image I've seen of the friend. Am I supposed to recognize him? 

[Ep36] This hospital has nurses and patients, but no doctors. Were they all murdered? On the wall of portraits, the director of the hospital is missing. Then a nurse NPC is interviewed. She tells us that "she's finding him", and "he betrayed her", and "he's hiding in the hospital". Our team reach this conclusion: the director (doctor) is the father and for money/statys, he abandoned the nurse who then committed suicide. This Door is her revenge. 

It's 7pm. Ruan Lan Zhu leaves and returns just as quickly. Then at 8pm, Jiang Ying Hong's room is attacked. Jiang Yin Hong flees, but he can't escape the nurse.... 

.......so how is he alive in the morning?! Jiang Ying Hong checks his room number. It's 404. Where's the 502? It turns out that Ruan Lan Zhu did sabotage Jiang Ying Hong last night, and the "502" is missing because Lin Jiu Shi is his partner in crime. Before Jiang Ying Hong arrived, Lin Jiu Shi already hid it. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

The hospital director

Director = Uni friend who abandoned Lin Jiu Shi for status and fame?

[Ep37] Jiang Ying Hong had died last night. He's "alive" because his body is hosting the Director. Since Jiang Ying Hong is targeted by the Zombie Nurse, he changes his host to Hu Die (? I might be making up this name, lol. Whatever). Touching his earlobes is the Director's habit. 

From the previous host (Meng Meng), our team finds a Russian doll.

Lin Jiu Shi and Ruan Lan Zhu catch Hu Die smuggling the baby doll. They snatch it from her. The clock strikes 8. The Zombie Nurse is hunting all three of them because the "502" is with Ruan Lan Zhu. They flee together, but the nurse is only after Hu Die. Ruan Lan Zhu had craftily slipped the "502" into her pocket. Our two guys are also protected by returning the Nurse her baby doll. 

The Nurse leaves, and then Hu Die's corpse rips from within, and out emerges the Director. That's the last of his eviscerations though. Our boys stole his Russian doll. 

The new problem: our boys belatedly figure out the key is with the baby doll, which is now with the Nurse. She's bitter about life, and refuses to hand over the key. She duels the team, and omg Ruan Lan Zhu is awesome at fighting. He's still not better than her, though. Tan Zao Zao throws a glass bottle at the enemy. The Nurse apathetically warns her, "Don't rush. You're next."

[Ep38] Tan Zao Zao is compassionate with the Nurse. It's like her heart is breaking for her. She understands this world was harsh to her, but she reminds the Nurse who she was: graduated with honours, praised by her patients. As awful as her life experience was, there is still beauty and warmth worth longing for. 

Tan Zao Zao: I understand you. It's not easy for you at all. Everything [...] that made you end your life, I understand. I just feel regret for you. You didn't have to torture yourself. You could have been kinder to yourself. Some relationships aren't worth longing for. What he lost is someone who loves him. What you lost is someone who didn't love you. This is a good thing. If you understood this earlier, then in your arms is a breathing and living baby, and not –

The nurse drops her sword. She wonders why no one told her sooner. Why did they only laugh at her? Tan Zao Zao tells her that she isn't wrong. "Love isn't wrong. You just loved the wrong person." The nurse drops them the key. 

The scumbag Director breaks the alarm, killing everyone in this Door with him. Our team runs for it before the hospital jails them. The metal doors are closing! The Nurse (with her super strength) enables our team to escape, and hands her baby doll to Tan Zao Zao (which she leaves with the boys). 

Door complete! Phew. Once they're out, Li Zi (Chestnut, the cat) finally lets Lin Jiu Shi carry him.

Yi Man Man is traumatized from his Doors. At night, he's eating RAW meat right out of the fridge. Chen Fei says he's fine. He'll get over it. 

Chen Fei. I never got his deal. Does he love Ruan Lan Zhu (too)? But he just never reveals it to anyone and hopes that Ruan Lan Zhu loses interest in Lin Jiu Shi?

 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Tan Zao Zao's speech

"Some relationships aren't worth longing for." When Tan Zao Zao said this, the director included the shot of Lin Jiu Shi. These words are for Lin Jiu Shi to hear and understand. It's for him to let go of his mother, and the friend who abandoned him.

[Ep39] Oh, yeah, sure, Yi Man Man will get over it...after he tries to bite off Lin Jiu Shi's flesh! Ruan Lan Zhu backs Lin Jiu Shi to a wall. Does he want his flesh too? No. He wants more than his flesh. Mm, mm, mm. He's just getting Lin Jiu Shi sanitizer. He doesn't like it when another man touches him. 

Chen Fei apologizes for underestimating Yi Man Man's condition. He couldn't have done it on purpose, right? 

Ruan Lan Zhu tells Lin Jiu Shi the real reason he established Obsidian. He wants this game to return to its original roots, not this violent, brutal, and inhumane game. He needs a partner to go through the 12 Doors, and he has chosen Lin Jiu Shi. His choice has nothing to do with Yi Man Man's downfall. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: From the beginning you are the one I chose. 

Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't have hints for his 12th door, but he knows it's a narrow escape. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: 九死一生

Lin Jiu Shi: 生死之交

Ruan Lan Zhu: 一念生死

The translation: 

Ruan Lan Zhu: 9-death:1-life (the chance of surviving is slim). 

Lin Jiu Shi: A relationship of life and death.

Ruan Lan Zhu: A moment of life and death.

I just like the idiom's compatibility. They vow to live and die together no matter how slim their chances are.  

Ruan Lan Zhu gives Lin Jiu Shi the choice. He'll wait for an answer in 3 days, but Lin Jiu Shi already has one: 

Lin Jiu Shi: I do :) You may now kiss the bride!

Ruan Lan Zhu: This fast? Yes!

Lin Jiu Shi: This will happen sooner or later. Why not let it happen sooner? 

Tan Zao Zao's 4th Door is upcoming. Ruan Lan Zhu wants her to take it seriously, instead of depending on them because by the 6th Door, she's on her own. She's still chill. But hold up, will she even make it alive in reality? Someone's stalking her! 

[Ep40] Tan Zao Zao's stalker is Li Dong Yuan, but he's not her stalker, he's her seller. They arranged to meet up so that she could buy a reward-item for Spirealm. This is why she's calm about her 6th Door. She plans to pass her level by cheating with money. Li Dong Yuan says her item is on its way. So why are we meeting up now? He gives her a Mirror after learning she's with Ruan Lan Zhu. When he realizes she didn't pay, she already left. Dude, I thought it was for free too. 

4th Door commences. It's an Art Museum. The key players are Tan Zao Zao (it's her Door), Lin Jiu Shi, Ruan Lan Zhu, Xiong Qi, Xiao Ke, and Yang Mei Shu (the new X villain). Xiong Qi is hostile. He thinks Lin&Ruan killed his friend (Meng Meng). 

Everyone gets an individual room. Lin Jiu Shi hides the hanging painting in the closet because it's creepy. After leaving his room, and shortly returning, the painting is back on the wall. Getting goosebumps. He shoves it in the closet again. 

*Knock Knock* 

It's just another player. She wants to switch rooms with Lin Jiu Shi to be closer to her friend. He agrees. 

[Ep41] Last night, Tan Zao Zao slept in the same room as Ruan Lan Zhu, but she didn't sleep well at all. He made her take the floor again. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: I don't like sleeping with someone else. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Then I guess next time I'm taking the floor. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: Other than you. 

This morning, the player who switched rooms with Lin Jiu Shi died. The painting sucked her alive. 

The Butler NPC warns the players not to go to the top floor and the 6th floor. He also says the Painter doesn't like others touching her portraits (and not that they cannot touch it). I assume that's why Lin Jiu Shi was haunted but wasn't killed. The Butler provides more information: there were rumours that the Painter plagiarized her teacher's (Huang Ming Yuan) artwork. 

Nightfalls, Lin Jiu Shi is haunted by the Painter again. He runs to Ruan Lan Zhu's room. Tan Zao Zao opens the door for him, but she calls him "Lin Jiu Shi". She should know their real names aren't to be used, and therefore she isn't Tan Zao Zao. She's part of the Painter's ploy to suck Lin Jiu Shi into her portrait forever! Fake Tan Zao Zao is so scary! 

[Ep42] It's morning. Tan Zao Zao's at Lin Jiu Shi's door!! She's real. Phew. 

Someone (X, duh) is sabotaging Lin Jiu Shi by framing his room with a frame. 

Ruan Lan Zhu invites Lin Jiu Shi to his their room to sleep. Ruan Lan Zhu nudges Tan Zao Zao for support. "Three is not crowded! Not crowded at all!". No freedom and no rights, lol. She can say what she wants and has no right to the bed.

Every time the Painter kills, a new face appears in the 12 silhouettes, which Ruan Lan Zhu says is "The 12 Bitterness". This is her masterpiece that's costing the players' life. Our team also realizes the Painter never plagiarized. It was her artwork, but her teacher "framed" her. 

Tan Zao Zao is creeped out by the painting-deaths. Ruan Lan Zhu comforts her. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: If you turn into a painting, we will definitely –

Tan Zao Zao: Save me? 

Ruan Lan Zhu: Live well according to your last wish to make sure you rest in peace.

Tan Zao Zao: Hmph! I like watching these two bicker. 

[Ep43] Another player dies. Yang Mei Shu (X) looks guilty. 

Lin Jiu Shi's university dorm appears again! The game has to be related to him. Tan Zao Zao says he's overthinking it. It's not like he's got some ML Halo. Um. About that.

We might now literally have a FL halo. Xiao Ke is an "angel". She already died. She doesn't show up in Tan Zao Zao's special mirror. A top player (who?) had "resurrected" her, but she only exists in the game, illegally. Xiao Ke is more than grateful just to be with Xiong Qi even if it's a virtual world. 

After Yang Mei Shu "framed" Xiong Qi, and our team saved him from being swallowed by a portrait, he's finally willing to believe our team isn't his enemy. He shares the location of the key. It's inside the painting. He wants to collaborate. Him and Xiao Ke will distract the Painter, while our team retrieves the key. Ruan Lan Zhu volunteers to enter the painting. Lin Jiu Shi disagrees. He will go instead.

Lin Jiu Shi: You can't be the one who's always protecting us.

[Ep44] Ruan Lan Zhu would normally condemn cheating (Tan Zao Zao's mirror, but now he understands, especially after seeing Xiao Ke. Everyone just wants to survive. Cheating to harm others is unforgivable. Tan Zao Zao says he's changed. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: 近朱者赤 (= Those who handle cinnabar are stained red = You are the product of your environment). The person you love influences you. 

Yang Mei Shu dies from her own trick. Xiong Qi Xiao Ke framed her room. 

It's time to retrieve the key. (Before that, Lin Jiu Shi sees a moon reflected in Zao Zao's mirror, but no one else can see it.) All goes as planned except Lin Jiu Shi doesn't find the key in time! He's caught by the Painter and at the last second he throws out the key to the team. Oh no! Lin Jiu Shi dies in the painting?!  

Reality. 

Lin Jiu Shi is alive! It was Ruan Lan Zhu who almost died. 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

The ___ in the mirror.

I don't understand the "Moon in the Mirror" hint for this Door. Is it if they look for a flipped clock in this level, they will get the hint of "Two enters, one survives"?

[Ep45] Ruan Lan Zhu had risked his all to save Lin Jiu Shi (who's knocked out). Xiao Ke went in with him, putting her virtual life on the line again. They narrowly escaped the painting, but the Painter still hunted them down. Ruan Lan Zhu threatened to destroy her beloved red paint. It's from her teacher (HMY), but it was this man who stole her painting, used her feelings, and then abandoned her. 

Our sweet Tan Zao Zao's empathy awakened. She pitied the Painter who could achieve so much more with her art, but she wasted it to harm others. She told her to look at herself. Look how beautiful she was. Tan Zao Zao had acted as many "vases", none with souls. She admired the Painter because she can still soul-search in her art. Tan Zao Zao shared her favourite portrait of hers. It's not The 12 Bitterness, but the sketch of herself. 

Tan Zao Zao: What matters is how you choose to be yourself.

The Painter freed them because she had better things to do. She needed to draw a new portrait of herself. 

Cheng Qian Li finishes updating Lin Jiu Shi. He says Ruan Lan Zhu has never risked his life for anyone. He also understands Lin Jiu Shi did the same: he could die to save the others (when he threw the key out). 

Lin Jiu Shi visits Ruan Lan Zhu, who's still recovering. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Lan Zhu, thank you. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: How will you thank me? With my body! 

Lin Jiu Shi: [Anything,] just say it. Ling Ling, I'm afraid you won't get it even if he says it. 

Ruan Lan Zhu asks him to stay a little longer. Lin Jiu Shi wonders if he's still in pain. He says a little. Anybody else and Ruan Lan Zhu would have answered that he's fine. Lin Jiu Shi even feeds Ruan Lan Zhu lychee right to his lips, and agrees with Tan Zao Zao on this one: "Beautiful people should eat lychee" Lychee sounds like Beauty in Chinese. Ruan Lan Zhu picks on Cheng Qian Li for laughing but not at Lin Jiu Shi. Dude got called beautiful by Lin Jiu Shi. Ofc, he's shy.

Lin Jiu Shi and Ruan Lan Zhu have the exact same scar on their backs. Could it be just a coincidence? 

[Ending Spoilers (click)]

Abandonment

Lin Jiu Shi's deepest pain. He was abandoned by his mother and his best friend, two people he loved the most. His dream guy is Ruan Lan Zhu who will never leave him. In fact, in this virtual world, all of Lin Jiu Shi's friends never abandoned each other, not Li Dong Yuan, no Tan Zao Zao, not Cheng Qian Li.

[Ep46] Ruan Lan Zhu can't accompany Lin Jiu Shi on his 3rd Door because he's in recovery and it's killing him. Since Li Dong Yuan wants a 9th Door hint, Ruan Lan Zhu exchanges it with a Lin Jiu Shi favour. It was cute how LDY went from demanding RLZ to begging him, lol. Meanwhile, the unknowing Lin Jiu Shi finds his own partner online: a Year 1 University Student (Female). 

Cheng Qian Li sounds like he's bidding farewell to Lin Jiu Shi – forever. He promises to take care of Li Zi. "From now on Li Zi will be my daughter-in-law." Lin Jiu Shi corrects him: "Li Zi is a male."  

Cheng Qian Li: That's okay. Tu Si (Toast) is a male too. Now I'm relieved. CQL is a BL fan through and through. Species doesn't matter. 

All the farewell talk is killing Ruan Lan Zhu too, The moment Lin Jiu Shi enters, he stands guard at the door. 15 minutes will feel like eternity for him. 

Lin Jiu Shi's Year 1 Female University Student is Wu Qi. Ugh, This level sucks already. No pretty girl and no Ruan Lan Zhu 

[Ep47] Ruan Lan Zhu's 3rd Door. This village sacrifices newborns every year during the River God festival. Our trio (Lin Jiu Shi, Li Dong Yuan and Wu Qi) bump into a blind boy. They're kind to him even though he pickpocketed them. 

The Landlady NPC explains the rules: 1) rest early and stay in the rooms, and 2) keep the oil lamp on all night. 

Li Dong Yuan says he'll be alert all night, and sleep with one eye open. He's got a reputation as the leader of Baidu! Guess who's dead asleep? Li Dong Yuan. He can't even hear the baby doll crying (a reward item from last level). Lin Jiu Shi shakes them awake to find a new room that the baby doll approves of. 

[Ep48] The Landlady and her piglet demons patrol the boys' old room. Her eyes pierce into the vacant room. Then her piglets with their pig trotters march inside. Lin Jiu Shi witnesses everything from across the hall where it's safe. But it's not! She zaps to his door. If only eyes can kill, hers are definitely fatal. Lin Jiu Shi's heart will jump out any second now! And Li Dong Yuan is not sleeping with one eye! Only Lin Jiu Shi is shitting his pants. She does this for the whole night, haunting their room again and again. 

It's suspected that the Landlady makes candle oil from boiling human flesh... As she's cooking, she's humming to her newborn, wrapped in a blanket. But there's nothing inside the blankets....

[Ep49] Our trio saves the blind boy again. He was a victim of human-trafficking, but he was unhealthy and so he was abandoned. His kidnappers forced him to steal to earn money, and turned him blind so he could never escape. 

[Ep50] The old sleaze (Yan Shi He) sabotages Lin Jiu Shi by switching his candle. Luckily, we have a crying baby doll enlightening us. The only time we like crying. Lin Jiu Shi once again arrives at a room that looks like his university dorm. Inside, he finds a candle base to help them survive the night. This ML Halo!

Lin Jiu Shi realizes Li Dong Yuan is protecting him because of Ruan Lan Zhu. But what's the point of Li Dong Yuan when he's sleeping like a pig? Lin Jiu Shi is doing all the protecting. He warded off the pigs and the Landlady (I don't know how). 

 

[Ep51] The candle is broken. Li Dong Yuan and Lin Jiu Shi have an easy fix: whoever stole theirs, steal it back. 

The Landlady had a son. He liked to play with kaleidoscopes. During the River God festival, he was kidnapped. The Landlady has been mourning ever since, and hence why newborns are kidnapped every River God festival. 

The Landlady hunts our team! The escape is as narrow as the gap is between the doors. 

[Ep52] The Landlady has our team at her sword-point. Lin Jiu Shi suddenly realizes her son is still alive. It's the blind boy! The mother and son are reunited. All the mother NPCs in this game love their children. 

The game freezes. The fourth-virtual-wall is broken! The blind boy NPC speaks to Lin Jiu Shi. He's the transmitter for Gao Da Wei, the best friend. He's the one who sent him the game. The room from earlier was to remind him of the time they were kidnapped. The kaleidoscopes and the university dorm were all hints targeted at Lin Jiu Shi. Three years ago, Gao Da Wei created Spirealm, but "Pretty Country" exploited his core idea. He locked the 12th level to prevent the game from completion. He's been on the run ever since. He hopes that Lin Jiu Shi can reach the last level to restore the game to its origins. Gao Da Wei gives Lin Jiu Shi a critical and cryptic hint: 

水中花鏡中月 = The flower in the water; The moon in the mirror. 

The correct phase is 鏡中花水中月 = The flower in the mirror; The moon in the water.  

The game resumes. Wu Qi accidentally reveals Lin Jiu Shi's real name. Yan Shi He (sleaze) is from X, and executes Lin Jiu Shi, but Li Dong Yuan takes the blow!!! Does he actually die though?! He can't! He was still alive when he left the door. 

[Ep53] LI DONG YUAN WILL DIE. NOOOOOO. He's grateful that he met Lin Jiu Shi. He doesn't regret doing the favour for Ruan NLanan Zhu. Ruan Lan Zhu apologizes, though. Now Li Dong Yuan is a little angry. He's game over soon, and Ruan Lan Zhu couldn't even dress like  Ruan Bai Jie (in white) to see him off. Lin Dong Yuan had thought Ruan Lan Zhu was his best rival, but he hopes one day they can be the best of bros. *Cans Clink* Yes! T_T Ruan Lan Zhu empties his drink. Best of bros! T_T

Li Dong Yuan clears everyone from his condo, even Zhuang Ru Jiao. He doesn't want them to see him cry. T_____T. Before he shuts the door, he tells her he's leaving Bailu to her. I HATE WU QI. CAN HE GO DIE INSTEAD. 

A finger-heart for Ruan Lan Zhu before Li Dong Yuan entered his last door T_T 

Lin Jiu Shi tells Ruan Lan Zhu about Gao Da Wei. They were both orphans, abandoned by their parents. They learned about virtual reality, and were inspired to make their own parents, even if it was fake. This was their dream. 

[Ep54] In Lin Jiu Shi's first year of university, there was an earthquake. He was buried. Gao Da Wei chose to save others before him. He understands Gao Da Wei's choice. Lin Jiu Shi thinks he would make the same decision. However, that doesn't make him feel better about being abandoned. Cheng Qian Li listens to his story and thinks Gao Da Wei sabotaged him by inviting him into the game. Lin Jiu Shi thinks differently. When Gao Da Wei had no one else to turn to, he thought of him. 

Zhuang Ru Jiao flees from Bailu thugs execs. They think she's withholding game hints all to herself, but those are only receipts. Li Dong Yuan has been earning money to provide for families who have lost their loved ones to the game. WAAAAH. Why is he so precious! Zhuang Ru Jiao doesn't want to abandon Bailu like this, not when it's dear to Li Dong Yuan. 

Ruan Lan Zhu protect Zhuang Ru Jiao (for Li Dong Yuan *sniffles*). He offers the thugs his 5 hints: 3 for Door 8, and 2 for Door 9. He's a total alpha when he burns one of the 9th hint. It's his way or the highway. They are to take his remaining hints and recognize Zhang Ru Jiao as their Bailu leader, or they can have nothing but ashes. 

[Ep55] Ruan Lan Zhu and Lin Jiu Shi swears to avenge Li Dong Yuan and hunt down Yan Shi He who's hiding in this Door as a man who's mute. 

The NPC warns everyone to not be rained on without an umbrella. A player ignores the rules. Nightfalls, and a nursery rhyme is sung. That player walks out, void of soul. The next morning, a teru teru bozu is hung in the pavilion. Inside is a human head...

[Ep56] When a player is killed, they're beheaded into a teru teru bozu. Take it down, read the nursery rhyme, and the rain will start. Put it up, and the rain will stop. A feeble NPC softly prays to the doll, hoping for a clear day. Then he's chilling! In a venomous tone, he threatens the sky that if it's still raining, he'll chop a head off. 

Raindrops land on a player. Then he's beheaded, and engulfed by the doll. 

[Ep57] Lin Jiu Shi and Ruan Lan Zhu find an umbrella.  

Yan Shi He is captured! But Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't kill him (yet) because he insists he has a 12th Door hint. Lin Jiu Shi is furious, but he understands the priorities. (Not killing him now doesn't mean not killing in the future.)

[Ep58] Yan Shi He escapes, but he won't survive: he's rained on. During the brawl, our boys' umbrella broke. Fortuitously, the key was inside. Now they need to find the door. Unfortunately, Yan Shi He is still alive. He had a protective special item. He fights the boys for the key, and this time he's actually rained on. He can't possibly have a second item, right? Right. He DIES! Finally. 

The origin of this Door: The teacher offered himself to save his students who were to be sacrificed to end the rain. Ruan Lan Zhu thanks the teacher, saying that the villagers will never forget him. The teacher smiles. The sky clears. The rain stops. The door appears.  

In this level Lin Jiu Shi had noticed the flower in the pot, which is Gao Da Wei's hint: the flower in the water, the moon in the mirror. They let the pot fill with rainwater, and surely enough, a clue is revealed. It's another kaleidoscope. Ruan Lan Zhu finds the hidden note: 二人去一人歸 Two people go, only one returns.

[Ep59] Tan Zao Zao invites Ruan Lan Zhu and Lin Jiu Shi to her movie premiere – a tragedy. It really is tragic. The struggle to stay awake is real. After a really good nap, our boys turn philosophical: What if the world inside the Doors is real and outside is fake? Which world would you choose: the real but dangerous one, or the fake but safe one? 

Lin Jiu Shi: Whichever world you guys are, I'll be in that world. 

Tan Zao Zao asks Ruan Lan Zhu if he really can't take her through her 6th Door. Random thought that I just remembered now. Did Ruan Lan Zhu only agree to take Tan Zao Zao in the first place because she had access to the Triplet Door, which was Lin Jiu Shi's door? Ruan Lan Zhu can help on the condition that she starts training now. She needs more practice. She refuses. Practicing isn't a guarantee anyway. She would rather die quick and easy than face more Doors. 

Lin Jiu Shi offers himself. Ruan Lan Zhu hollers at him. The one and only time he independently passed a Door cost Li Dong Yuan's life. Don't remind me like that!! D:

Ruan Lan Zhu: You're not saving her. You're dying for her. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Isn't that the meaning of being friends? Um. I suddenly sympathize Gao Da Wei. So much pressure being his friend.

Ruan Lan Zhu: The meaning of friendship is to live for each other, not to die for each other. 

Tan Zao Zao thanks Lin Jiu Shi for his thoughts. She understands Ruan Lan Zhu. 

On their way back home, Lin Jiu Shi bumps into a university alumni. He had argued with Gao Da Wei over Lin Jiu Shi whom he called worthless. Gao Da Wei stood up for Lin Jiu Shi that he was the true hero. 

Ruan Lan Zhu senses the end is coming. Remember, he didn't tell Lin Jiu Shi the very last clue: only one will survive. At the thought of farewell, Lin Jiu Shi doesn't want the game to end. He doesn't want to separate. He asks Lin Jiu Shi what'd he do. Ruan Lan Zhu hasn't thought so far yet bc he won't live to see that far D: He's not going to let Lin Jiu Shi be the one to die. Lin Jiu Shi hopes maybe there will be another game and they can be partners there forever. Ruan Lan Zhu likes the sound of that. 

Cheng Qian Li's 7th Door is next. To prepare, Cheng Yi Xie (older twin) is swiping Level 10 Doors for hints and for practice. Ruan Lan Zhu is furious at Cheng Yi Xie's recklessness, and demands him to be calmer especially when facing a problem. Lin Jiu Shi understands Cheng Yi Xie though, and defends that sometimes being impulsive can solve problems better than being calm. 

Tan Zao Zao won the best actress award!! How. It's from an academy that awards flop movies, and worst actors. Ah, that makes sense xD. No celebrity ever attends. Tan Zao Zao will be the first ever. Hey. An award is an award. 

[Ep60] Ruan Lan Zhu sees the time on Tan Zao Zao's invitation. Perplexed, he says he'll be there, but he won't be on time. 

The ceremony begins. The Academy is called Sour Jujube, which is also Zao Zao's name (jujube = Zao Zao). Tan Zao Zao is late to her crowning stage. Lin Jiu Shi realizes she's in her 6th Door. He desperately buys her time by faking as her assistant. Aw, she did ask him to be her assistant the first time they met irl. 

Tan Zao Zao completes her 6th Door! Lin Jiu Shi escorts our glamorous actress to her stage. She says this could be her last award. Oh no. In the past 10 years of her actress career, she has never been herself. She's afraid to walk out without makeup. She doesn't want to admit she acts not for art, but for money. Her life was like a game, a dream. She still hasn't figured out how to act out her life, and just like that time went on. Like a game, she only played half, and then she's told it's game over. WAHHHHHHH T_T. She did play half the game. Door 6/12. In this "game", there is sadness, and there is happiness, but she doesn't regret it. With her life, she acted as Tan Za Zao, her greatest role. Because of that, she has everything she has today, including this award – Sour Jujube. She says this award sure is sour, but it sure is real. Here's the significance of her little/real name: "Xiao Ju Zi". It means Tangerine. Her real name is sour, but it's the real her. Her pseudonym in the game is Xiao Cheng Zi = Little orange = a tangerine. The Door version of her is the real her too T_T. Tan Zao Zao thanks everyone and hopes that there's less regret in their lives. She wants everyone to be themselves. 

A chandelier crushes her to death. OMGGGGGGG. T__________T. I didn't find her all too special when she joined the boys, but gradually I grew really fond of her. I didn't think her death would make me cry this much.  

[Ep61] Tan Zao Zao left the boys mementos. There's a video message recorded on her phone. Her wallpaper is a picture of them. Just kill me T_T. She really is the best actress for me in this show T_____T. She wants them to be happy when they think of her. She cheers up Lin Jiu Shi, knowing that he would mourn for her. If she were lucky enough to pass her 6th Door, she'd record a new one for her 7th because she wants them to always remember her smiling. Tan Zao Zao also left them a jade bangle. It's her family heirloom. She hopes they will pass it down for her. 

Ruan Lan Zhu was at the ceremony too!! Actually, he was there really early. He was going to take Tan Zao Zao's 6th Door with her, but she refused. She left him a letter, admitting she was scared, but she would courageously face her fate. She thanks him for risking his life for a coward like her, but she doesn't want her friends to be in danger because of her.  BRING HER BACK, SHOW. Ruan Lan Zhu tells nobody about his kindness. 

In Cheng Yi Xie's 10th Door, he's protected by Xiao Ke. Aw. He is risking his life to collect more items for his didi. He's doing it all alone. Xiao Ke tells him that humans are social beings. We're not wolves. We need each other. This reminds me that the first level for Lin Jiu Shi was a wolf. Lin Jiu Shi, himself, was quite like a lone wolf too.  

Ruan Lan Zhu wears Tan Zao Zao's bangle because between him and Lin Jiu Shi, he's got the slender hands. 

Ruan Lan Zhu already passed his 10th Door, but he wants to re-enter to confirm a hint. He hasn't told anyone yet (well now he's told Chen Fei) that the hint he got from the flower pot and his last 10th door is the exact same: "Two will enter, only one will exit". Lin Jiu Shi doesn't know Ruan Lan Zhu's real reason, but he suggests they could collaborate with Cheng Yi Xie. That's impossible. That guy doesn't understand teamwork. Lin Jiu Shi bets with Ruan Lan Zhu that if he succeeds, he'll call him "daddy". 

Hello, hello. Cheng Yi Xie initiates a collaboration. Ruan Lan Zhu, who's your daddy?

[Ep62] Prior to entering the 10th Door, Lin Jiu Shi secretly visits his mother and his half-sister. He only watches from afar. 

X Organization enters the 10th Door as well. In this level, players open boxes for weapons and hints to win the game. A player, Tian Gu Xue, screams because Xiao Ji opened a box. He finds a stethoscope = a useful tool. He recklessly opens another one: the Devil's Mouth. Ruan Lan Zhu condemns Xiao Ji's behaviour. He's putting everyone in danger. The Devil split herself in 10 parts. Every body part has a (fatal) function, and of them all, her hair is the most lethal. Once all 10 parts are complete, the game is over – all dead. 

Room assignments. Tian Gu Xue wants to sleep alone. Lin Jiu Shi, Ruan Lan Zhu, and Cheng twins sleep in one dorm. 

Xia jie ignores Ruan Lan Zhu's instructions and orders her teammates to open more boxes, and now they're deadmates. They were always her guinea pigs. 

[Ep63] Ruan Lan Zhu is misinformed about the Mouth. The boardgames version allows the Devil to lie, while the Door version allows the Devil to vish. She impersonates Ruan Lan Zhu's voice to fool Lin Jiu Shi into opening a box with her another body part. Lin Jiu Shi narrowly escapes. 

Xiao Ji's stethoscope allows him to listen if the Devil is in the box. Only he can use it, and only 3 times a day. Since he's part of Xia jie's team, she ain't sharing Xiao Ji with anyone. But! We have Lin Jiu Shi, a walking stethoscope. He has acute hearing too! He can only use it twice, though. 

There's a loophole in the game: the players don't have to open the boxes. Well, the Devil has that covered. The players who haven't opened a box cannot eat. Sun Yuan Zhou urges everyone to cooperate, and label the empty boxes they opened. It's because there's no benefit and only harm in reopening them. Useful items do not resort, only the Devil is mobile. 

[Ep64] Ruan Lan Zhu shares half of his chocolate bar with Lin Jiu Shi, and not the twins, but Ruan Lan Zhu rations his portion, and lies to Lin Jiu Shi that he ate it and that it's sweet. Bro, you're sweet. 

At night, Xiao Ji (Mr. Stethoscope) sees Xia jie secretly visit someone. 

Breakfast is served to Lin Jiu Shi and Cheng Qian Li. They opened two boxes with his hearing. One box had an 8 for the lock combo. 

A Left Hand is revealed. The Devil can now force someone to open a box. It's used on Ruan Lan Zhu! Our team is being targeted! He's under a spell to open the box. No one can stop him and so Lin Jiu Shi uses a knife (from a different level?) to stab the Devil encased in the box. Ruan Lan Zhu understands why Xia jie is lying low: to avoid being targeted by the Devil. However, how can the Devil hear them when her Ears haven't been uncovered? Answer: The Devil found herself a pair of ears – a spy among the players. 

Ruan Lan Zhu is enraged at Lin Jiu Shi for risking his life. Lin Jiu Shi assures him that he was certain the Devil died. 

Lin Jiu Shi: If I was in the same situation, would you open the box before me? 

Ruan Lan Zhu is silent.

Lin Jiu Shi: Silence is admittance. [...] We clearly know what we'll do (for each other). 

Ruan NLn Zhu: I just want you to live. At least, don't die because of me. 

Lin Jiu Shi says Ruan Lan Zhu can't always be protecting others. He reminds him of his own words: "You must be used to someone's kindness." 

[Ep65] A Lighter is found. Ruan Lan Zhu would prefer a pair of scissors. A Lighter has to be activated before unboxing. In the scenario that the Devil isn't actually inside, the Lighter would be wasted. A pair of Scissors can be used without unboxing. 

Ruan Lan Zhu lies to Sun Yuan Zhou that he found the Comb. Once they find her Hair, it's game over for the Devil. Sun Yuan Zhou is shocked he's sharing such a crucial piece of information. What if the Devil is in the nearby boxes? It's fine. The Devil can't move if her Legs haven't been uncased. 

Cheng Yi Xie finds the Scissors! Like Lin Jiu Shi, he has a special ability too: smelling

Uh oh, the Devil's Eye has opened. Since the Devil already used its Left Hand today, she can't use another ability until a new day. Our team is safe for tonight. 

Only Ruan Lan Zhu starved today. His stomach is gnawing from within, and he's still not eating his chocolate bar. Lin Jiu Shi realizes that Ruan Lan Zhu is saving it for him. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: I said so that I will protect you forever whether it's your forever or my forever. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Forever is too long. I want you to eat this right now. 

Obediently, Ruan Lan Zhu eats the chocolate. Isn't it sweet? :) 

The clock strikes 12. The Devil is in play again. Our team is on high alert since Ruan Lan Zhu has the "Comb", but the night was silent. This means Sun Yuan Zhou isn't the spy for the Devil. 

The next morning, our team informs everyone there's a spy amongst them. The first player of the game is the most suspicious. 

[Ep66] A Devil's Torso is revealed. It will kill every player in the same room. 

A total of 3 numbers have been found for the safe (with the key). Mr. Stethoscope shares the last digit behind Xia jie's back. He just wants to survive and that if the others escape, he hopes that they bring him along. 

Lin Jiu Shi is the nerdiest of them all and is assigned to decipher the order of the password. Ruan Lan Zhu is his number one fan. Of course Liu Jiu Shi is all about brains. He doesn't rely on luck! Lin Jiu Shi narrows down to two choices, and he opens the safe! But how did he choose 1837 over 1738? Our nerd replies that 1738 sounds like "Let's be bitches together". The Devil, being a lady, wouldn't like that. Ruan Lan Zhu, his number one fan, argues that luck is a skill too. LOL  

Ruan Lan Zhu keeps the key, which isn't desirable for once. The Devil will target him. 

Tian Gu Xue is the spy. Sun Yuan Zhou had labelled the papers for every player and from that we know Tian Gu Xue (other than Mr. Stethoscope) opened the most boxes to help the Devil. 

[Ep67] Tian Gu Xue had a Right Leg (giving the Devil mobility between the boxes), the Coffin Nail (the most useful tool (other than the Comb?) that will kill the Devil in any box), and the instruction manual. Tian Gui Xue is imprisoned in her room. Ruan Lan Zhu volunteers to guard her. When Lin Jiu Shi and the twins leave, there's tears in Ruan Lan Zhu's eyes. He softly calls Lin Jiu Shi, "Ling Ling". O_O 

Xia jie reports to someone again. She's certain that the Door's hint will be theirs. 

The clock strikes 12. Immediately, the Devil activates her Torso! We forgot about the Torso! It's with Tian Gu Xue and whoever is in the same room will be squashed. That's our Ruan Lan Zhu!! And he knew??? Lin Jiu Shi is right outside with no way in. Ruan Lan Zhu, even at this moment, lies that he locked the room. The truth is he can't escape. It's too late and only now does Lin Jiu Shi realize there's another spy. The Devil wants to kill Ruan Lan Zhu, the key holder. 

 

[Ep68] There might be a way to save Ruan Lan Zhu! The Scissors! It can be slipped under the door, but Cheng Qian Li left it in the room, and now it's stolen. Sun Yuan Zhou's lighter is useless because it's too thick to slip through the cracks. 

The ceiling is crushing Ruan Lan Zhu. HE IS GOING TO DIE. WTF. Ruan Lan Zhu tells Lin Jiu Shi to come closer to the door. He left the key to him. He wants Lin Jiu Shi to live, to be safe, and to be happy.  Lin Jiu Shi breaks down. After a traumatic outburst of opening any box he can in the hallway, he sinks back down to the ground. It's hopeless.

Ruan Lan Zhu: Have you ever thought that none of this is real and therefore my death isn't real. If you think like this, would it be better? 

Lin Jiu Shi: I only want you to be alive. 

Nononononono. Ruan Lan Zhu is crushed by the ceiling. That's it!!!! 

Cheng Yi Xie hollers at Cheng Qian Li for forgetting the scissors. Cheng Qian Li cries and leaves the room. He spots Xia jie walking around suspiciously. Cheng Qian Li is almost caught, but it's just Mr. Stethoscope walking around. Xia jie meets Anonymous and hands him/her the scissors. She assures Anonymous that the key must be with Lin Jiu Shi. 

[Ep69] Lin Jiu Shi identifies the second spy: Mr. Stethoscope (Xiao Ji). On the instruction manual, there is literally a line for spies: the first player will have two choices, be a spy, or be a regular player. Regular players will receive a reward: stethoscope. This is a universal item to be used by all players, but Xiao Ji deceived everyone by "finding" it in a box. Then he rolled a piece of paper inside to prevent other players from hearing anything. 

Lin Jiu Shi tells everyone to leave Xiao Ji to him. He needs to avenge Ruan Lan Zhu. Kakoiiii! He's defeated before I can finish typing this sentence, and now he's hostage. Dude. 

Ruan Lan Zhu saves Lin Jiu Shi! AHHHHHHHHHH. RUAN GE! He's alive! And apparently Lin Jiu Shi knew?! This was their plan?? 

No no no. Lin Jiu Shi had no idea. Lin Jiu Shi has never been so livid. If they can't face danger together, what's the point of being partners? Ruan Lan Zhu insists he knew he'd survive. That's a flat out lie. If he knew, he wouldn't have left the coffin nail and the key with Lin Jiu Shi. Lin Jiu Shi is like an angry wife and Ruan Lan Zhu is the quivering husband. 

The truth: Tan Zao Zao's bangle! That saved Ruan Lan Zhu. Why didn't she use it? T_T. She lied that it was her family heirloom because she knows Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't like cheating, and she didn't want Lin Jiu Shi to rely on the item in case it was fake. She's so sweet T___T.

[Ep70] Sun Yuan Zhou is Anonymous! He's Yan Ba Lang, the X leader. Xiao Ji was deeply involved in this cahoot. This cost Cheng Qian Li's life! He protected his gege from unboxing the Devil's Hair, a sabotage by Sun Yuan Zhou / Yan Ba Lang. They steal the key and take the Hint. Trust in Ruan Lan Zhu, though. He strikes a dagger at them to catch a glimpse of the hint. It's the same one: Two enters, one returns. 

The Door is complete. 

I hate it that our good guys are dying T_____T. Cheng Qian Li is back home first. He's hugging Toast. Lin Jiu Shi compliments him for being courageous. Cheng Qian Li will leave Toast to him. He gives his horror movies to Lu Yuan Xue (the only lady). He doesn't have anything for Ruan Lan Zhu. "My brother isn't a thing, but can I leave him in your care?" That's something gege always asked of Ruan Lan Zhu :(. He doesn't have anything for his Cheng Yi Xie either. He only hopes that he can live for the both of them. "You must live on" The Cheng brothers play their last (Nintendo) game together. Cheng Qian Li likes this so much better. Cheng Yi Xie is following his lead for once.

Cheng Yi Xie: I'll always listen to you. Okay?

Cheng Qian Li faints. In his palm, he had a candy for his ge. He tells him not to be sad. Originally, these two candies were from Lin Jiu Shi to Cheng Yi Xie (gege). One dropped in the game. One got out of the game. One twin died in the game. One twin made it out alive. (This candy isn't sweet T__T). 

[Ep71] Lin Jiu Shi's mother is a disappointment to her son. 1) She only wants to see him because Ruan Lan Zhu gave her money and she wants to keep it. 2) She was throwing away his old things. She says she wasn't, but how is that action not chucking away garbage??? 3) She gives him back his old belongings. She says it's precious to him, but at the same time this also means she doesn't feel the need to keep his belongings. With tears in his eyes, Lin Jiu Shi promises he'll never bother her and her family again. 

From the old belongings, Lin Jiu Shi realizes the inevitable truth: Ruan Lan Zhu is an NPC! He finally remembers he had a conversation with Gao Da Wei that they need an NPC Main Character who's beautiful and strong, and with a tortured soul...just like Ruan Lan Zhu. They're like Audiences love that shit. Yup.

[Ep72] Lin Jiu Shi confronts Ruan Lan Zhu. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Reply me, NPC! Ouch,  my virtual pain.

Ruan Lan Zhu thought he could hide his identity from Lin Jiu Shi until he disappeared. That's harsh, bro. Once Ruan Lan Zhu reaches the final level to restore the game, he will vanish as well. That's his destiny, his programmed destiny. He was designed to meet Lin Jiu Shi and to see his light. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: I appeared for you and will disappear for you

Ruan Lan Zhu had hinted he didn't know of his future because he doesn't have a future. He doesn't even have a past. Love and Friendship are concepts he can define, but he could never understand. It's because he's fake. Meeting Liu Jiu Shi changed him, however. He's grateful that Lin Jiu Shi made him feel and look human. Because of him, he could cherish friends like Li Dong Yuan, Tan Zao Zao, and Cheng Qian Li and he could love Lin Jiu Shi.

Ruan Lan Zhu defined love and friendship so beautifully. 

• Love = 梁山伯與祝英台 = The Butterfly Lovers. A Chinese folklore of the tragic love between Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai. They separated because of fate, and yet not even death could stop them from loving each other because they reincarnate into butterflies. (FYI: When they first met, Zhu Ying Tai (the female) was a girl dressed as a boy. Sound somewhat familiar? Ruan Lan Zhu dressed up as Ruan Bai Jie)
• Ruan Lan Zhu says he will never understand the love they felt when they yearned for each other as they waited to become butterflies. 
• Friendship = 桃花潭水深千尺 不及汪倫送我情 = The peach blossom pond is a thousand miles deep, but it isn't deeper than my friendship with Wang Lun. (This is a poem Li Bai wrote about Wang Lun) 
• Ruan Lan Zhu says he'll never understand why friendship is deeper than water. 

Within Ruan Lan Zhu exists both reality and virtuality. It's not that he didn't want to confess, he didn't know how. He asks Lin Jiu Shi to reconsider quitting. 

Lin Jiu Shi: [You want me to choose between] saving someone I know or saving a bunch of players I don't know. What kind of shitty decision is this? 

Lin Jiu Shi is livid at Ruan Lan Zhu for denying his right to choose and withheld the 11th Door hint (2 enter, 1 returns). Ruan Lan Zhu says he's the same. From his very existence to disappearance, he has no choice either.

Lin Jiu Shi: I'm sorry, but I can't let you die. I'm not entering the 11th Door. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: If you don't go, my ending is the same. 

Lin Jiu Shi: But my ending is different! He means that he doesn't have to be the one to end his existence. 

[Ep73] Wu Ji – the hero. I hate him, but he says all the right things. He rationalizes for Lin Jiu Shi. If he doesn't go, Ruan Lan Zhu will definitely die. If he goes, there's a slight chance Ruan Lan Zhu may survive. The one without a choice is Ruan Lan Zhu, not Lin Jiu Shi. Lin Jiu Shi just hates being a fool. He can only accept the choice made by someone else. 

Wu Ji says the real fool is himself. He was sad when Lin Jiu Shi moved out, but he was also happy that he would finally lose him, and yet he was waiting for him to come back. He wouldn't even let his girlfriend move in. Now that Lin Jiu Shi is back, Wu Ji tells him he needs to go. 

Wu Ji: Wasting your talents is worse than committing suicide. [...] Lin Jiu Shi, I, Wu Ji, am willing to be your friend forever. But I'm unwilling for you to always be my good friend. Do you know how talented you are?

Wu Ji believes Lin Jiu Shi deserves more. He should go with Ruan Lan Zhu and restore this game. If he's afraid of losing Ruan Lan Zhu....

Wu Ji: Then I will tell you this: I'm not afraid of losing you because losing yourself is the start of finding yourself. 

Losing someone is the end, but that in itself is another journey. Wu Ji accompanied Lin Jiu Shi to his end (where he's off to a better world). Lin Jiu Shi still has the chance to accompany Ruan Lan Zhu to his terminal. A farewell journey is still a journey. 

The 11th Door begins. 

X Organization is nearly axed. There's only two members left: Xia jie and Yan Ba Lang. She truly loves this scum and gives him unconditional trust. She doesn't know the hint and enters the 11th Door with him. All the dead X members rightfully haunt them, but Yan Ba Lang persuades them to prey on Ruan Lan Zhu instead. Yan Ba Lang promises to keep the game alive in order to keep them alive, and to support their family. 

 

[Ep74] Ruan Lan Zhu enters his Door – alone. But Lin Jiu Shi arrives in time! Cue Titanic music. 

Lin Jiu Shi: Qian Li and Zao Zao, we didn't say farewell in time. But this farewell, we have a lot of time. 15 minutes T_T. I don't want to miss it. No matter what, I will not forget you. 

Once inside the Door, Lin Jiu Shi is at home. The time is 5...wait. I don't know how to read that clock. It's flipped. He rings the doorbell at Ruan Lan Zhu's place, but it's a new owner. Lin Jiu Shi goes back home. Li Zi (cat) runs into his arms. Now he knows for sure this isn't his reality. Li Zi never snuggles with him. 

X members attack Lin Jiu Shi. He phones Ruan Lan Zhu who says he's being chased too. But that voice really doesn't sound like Ruan NLn Zhu at all..... Lin Jiu Shi is saved by Li Dong Yuan!!!!!! My bro! He asks about Zhuang Ru Jiao too, aw. I'll never get to see them together T_T. He has something to say to her: "This world can be really stressful, but your appearance was like a ray of light." He sheepishly takes it back and says it's too cheesy. He also roots for Lin Jiu Shi to destroy this game...and then he'll truly cease to exist. Sniffles. This is a farewell journey.... 

[Ep75] Ruan Lan Zhu and Lin Jiu Shi finally meet. The virtual world glitches, and they're transported to their previous doors. Enemies are everywhere. Tan Zao Zao saves them! She can protect them now. Awwwww!! Ruan Lan Zhu gives Zao Zao a heartfelt thank you for the first time she saved him: the jade bangle. Aw. She wants them to stay longer since it's safe with her, but the boys have to go. She wants to call them back, but suppresses that desire, and finally smiles. Aw Zao Zao. Always smiling till the end T_T.

Yan Ban Lang and the Well Ghost (Door 1) trap Lin Jiu Shi and Ruan Lan Zhu. They want the hint. Lin Jiu Shi reveals it: "the flower in the water, the moon in the mirror". He even tells him the "flower in the water" gave them "two enters, one return". Lin Jiu Shi, are you born honest or born dumb. Yan Ba Lang – no surprise – reneges on his promise. 

The Well Ghost is about to devour them, but then Zuo Zi (Leftie) saves them! She's awesome weilding the sword. The real Well Ghost (Xiao Jiu) and Painting Lady clear the other X enemies. Awwwwww. 

Cheng Qian Li is here too!! He's like sisters with the lady "monsters", haha. He notified the girls to save our boys, and now that the girls are done saving the world, they have their girl talk. I love it. Zuo Zi says her left leg is hurting these days because of the cold weather. Xiao Jiu's father is a doctor and he's been treating Zuo Zi's leg, but Zuo Zi finds the medicine too bitter. Xiao Jiu lectures her for complaining about her leg, and complaining about the medicine. Girl, what do you want! As she's lecturing, she's choking on her massive...hair. Zuo Zi knows a hairstylist: Xu Jin. Nooooo. The meimei who skinned her jiejie?! Be careful Xiao Jiu! Your hair might not be the only part that's cut! Painting Lady finally joins the conversation because she wants a hairdo as well. Her hair is the reason she's wearing the hat 24/7. Then they talk about makeup. Cheng Qian Li interrupts the girls' talk and asks if they've got hints for the Key. Nope. 

Ruan Lan Zhu and Lin Jiu Shi tell Cheng Qian Li that this game will disappear. This means Cheng Qian Li will vanish. He's fine with this, but he's worried about Ruan Lan Zhu – he's someone who has a chance to exit unlike him. Aw. He's precious. Cheng Qian Li asks Lin Jiu Shi to create a game without violence, and just people living together harmoniously*. 

• *Cheng Qian Li uses the idiom 相濡以沫 = To moisten each other with spittle. From Google: "It is used as a metaphor for people in adversity who can support each other, give strength, and even maintain each other's lives. Later, it is often used as a metaphor for the relationship between people who depend on each other and never leave each other." 
• Ruan Lan Zhu lectures him for his inappropriate idioms, but it's quite inappropriately appropriate. 

Lin Jiu Shi promises everyone that he will do his best to protect their existence. He's been thinking about virtual vs. reality: 1) People who disappear in reality can exist virtually; 2) emotions in virtual reality can surpass reality. And here, guys, this is where you need to touch some grass. Virtual and Reality seem antagonistic, but are also synergistic.  

Yan Ba Lang is on the hunt for "moon in the mirror". He arrives at Lin Jiu Shi's condo, and stares at the flipped clock. 

[Ep76] Lin Jiu Shi deciphers the "moon in the mirror" hint. Moon represents time. It's in the mirror because Gao Da Wei's timezone is flipped after he went studying overseas. All of this points to Lin Jiu Shi's flipped clock. However, Yan Ba Lang beats them to it, and finds the key. There's two: one for life and one for death. The Death one looks like a Butterfly. Remember Ruan Lan Zhu's definition of Love = the tragic lovers who became butterflies. 

Ruan Lan Zhu threatens to snatch the keys by pure force. Yan Ba Lang pushes Xia jie forward as his shield and what's more ridiculous is that she still loves him.... She bargains with the boys to find the Door first. Lin Jiu Shi accepts. He's very passive in this whole level. Does he not want to leave? Is he planning to die with Ruan Lan Zhu?

Lin Jiu Shi gives the choice to Yan Ba Lang: if he's right, then Lin Jiu Shi will stay with Ruan Lan Zhu in this virtual reality, and if he's wrong, then Lin Jiu Shi will send Ruan Lan Zhu to restore this game. For now, he would rather use this time to be together. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: But if we don't restore/purify the game, more people will die. 

Lin Jiu Shi: I don't know those people. I only know you. I will only save you. 

Lin Jiu Shi understands that sacrificing one to save everyone is the right choice (Door 1 Well Ghost). But he wants to make the wrong choice, so why not leave it to someone else. 

Lin Jiu Shi: I only want to save the people I care about, all of the people I care about [...] You said that you will protect me whether it's your forever or my forever. I am the same. [...] I just wish this road could be a little longer. 

To pass this level, both doors have to be opened simultaneously. One is Life of Virtuality and the other is Death of Reality. The key that opens Death is the Butterfly. Yan Ba Lang wants Xia jie to choose Death so that he can live. ("Two enters, only one returns.") She agrees!! And then she betrays!!! REJOICE! She slams the door shut after he enters. The rules are violated, and he dies. 

Our boys aren't exactly celebrating with me on Yan Ba Lang's death. The Doors are still a deadlock. If Ruan Lan Zhu opens Death of Reality to restore the game, then Lin Jiu Shi will die in the virtual world.

Xia jie has the key to the solution. And poor her. She has to hear these two lovebirds being torn about who will survive while her guy wants her to die. She will open the Life of Virtuality while the boys open their Death to Reality door together. She wants to stay with Yan Ba Lang in this virtual reality even if she knows he isn't worth it. Her stupid feelings can't be controlled but will save our boys. She gives them the Butterfly Key so that they go back to their tragic world and “reunite as butterflies” T_T Is this what you wanted all along, Show? 

Level Complete. Lin Jiu Shi and Ruan Lan Zhu are in the "loading room". It's cathedral-like with 12 doors. Ruan Lan Zhu walks to the only door that isn't labeled. Is that the 12th Door? 

[Ep77] Once Ruan Lan Zhu touches the 12th Door, the rest of the 11 disappear. The 12th Door doesn't actually exist in the game yet. The 11th Door is the last level. This is the last of their journey! :(

Lin Jiu Shi realizes 12 is the number of life: 12 zodiacs, 12 months, 12 hour-clock. The 12 Doors are the 12 Bitterness of Life. To go through these 12 doors, the players will overcome these negative emotions. For someone who doesn't chatter much, Lin Jiu Shi sure has a lot to say. They both know why. The longer he talks, the longer Ruan Lan Zhu stays. But that doesn't stop him from vanishing. He can't even shake hands with Lin Jiu Shi. ): 

They fist/air bump instead. *Sniffles* At least that looks like they're touching. :( 

Ruan Lan Zhu: Wishing you forever happiness and safety. 

We've truly arrived at Death by Reality. Lin Jiu Shi is back in reality. He has been unconscious since Ep1's car accident. Everything was a dream. 

• Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke exist, but they don't know each other. He is the driver, and she is a nurse. 
• Chen Fei is a doctor, not a vet.
• Wu Ji has no memories of playing Spirealm. 
• Ruan Lan Zhu doesn't exist!!!! (At his mansion, the man who opened the door was the same man in the 11th Door). 
• The e-cafe boss barely remembers about Spirealm, which he says is a demo created by a university student who is not Gao Da Wei.
• Cheng Yi Xie and Cheng Qian Li exist, but they don't know Lin Jiu Shi.
• Lin Jiu Shi's alumni says Gao Da Wei isn't even in game development. He studied finance. 
• Tan Zao Zao is an influencer. 
• Lin Dong Yuan puts on screen protectors. 

Everyone in the game are the everyday people Lin Jiu Shi would meet. It really was all his imagination. 

Lin Jiu Shi decides to move out. He's not running away. He's searching for himself, and the connection between virtual and reality. Wu Ji doesn't understand what that is. 

Lin Jiu Shi answers: Ling Jing. Realm of the Spirits. Spirealm. 

[Ep78] 50 years later. Alone for 50 years?

Lin Dong Yuan and Xiong Qi are old men on wheelchairs. They're playing a VR game and both are such old newbs. 

Lin Jiu Shi has finally done it. He (re)created Spirealm. He logs into his game. It's the familiar cathedral. He opens the Door to his 12th Level, the Door of happiness. We see that his hair is greying too. Cheng Qian Li opens the door. There's Yi Yi Man, and Chen Fei. Li Dong Yuan and Zao Zao are playing a video game on TV. Tan Zao Zao brightly runs up to Lin Jiu Shi and tells him she had a very long dream. Li Dong Yuan sighs. "One dream, one game". The boys greet with their usual: one finger to the sky. 

Last but not least, the heroine of the drama: Ruan Lan Zhu! 

Lin Jiu Shi: Long time no see. 

Ruan Lan Zhu: Not long. It's good that you're back. Welcome to the world of Spirealm. 

They shake hands! They couldn't do this when they parted, but now they can when they're reunited T_T. 

The end.  

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Remarks

[Drama Info] 

• 2 hour lifespan! Drama was removed because of the BL ban and now it ceases to exist (on official platforms). 
• Some Douban users rated this 5/5 solely for daring to air. Unfortunately, recently, I saw that the producer went bankrupt O_O. (You could also be the skeptic and think that this is a promotional gimmick).
• Adapted from "Kaleidoscope of Death" by Xi Zi Xu
• This is more like a 36 episode drama if each ep was 45 mins. 

[Glossary] 

[Ep44] 近朱者赤近墨者黑 Jìn zhū zhě chì jìn mò zhě hēi – Those who handle cinnabar are stained red; those who work with ink are stained black. You are the product of your environment.

[Ep72] 梁山伯與祝英台 – The Butterfly Lovers. A Chinese folkore of the tragic love between Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai. They're separated by fate, and yet not even death could separate them because they reincarnate into butterflies. (It's Ruan Lan Zhu's definition of love). 

[Ep72] 桃花潭水深千尺 不及汪倫送我情 – The peach blossom pond is a thousand miles deep, but it isn't deeper than my friendship with Wang Lun. [This is a poem Li Bai wrote about Wang Lun (and it's a poem Ruan Lan Zhu uses to define Friendship)]

[Ep75] 相濡以沫 – To moisten each other with spittle. (From Google: "It is used as a metaphor for people in adversity who can support each other, give strength, and even maintain each other's lives. Later, it is often used as a metaphor for the relationship between people who depend on each other and never leave each other.)

[A Highlight] The Birthday song in Ep12. It is the creepiest and funniest version I've ever heard. Tan Zao Zao joining in was the icing on the cake. 

[Review & Rating]

I would have rated this higher if not for the ending half. (I wish I could stop saying this for my dramas). 

Despite this technically being a happy ending, I was sad for the last arc. But let me go in order... 

• The beginning was so engaging that I watched this compulsively. When it wasn’t mysterious and spooky, it was light and humorous. The romance (BL) had cute flirty moments. The supporting cast from players to NPCs were filled with colourful personalities. A full package! 
• Then things got real. I feel like you should be prepared that characters you care about will die. The ending felt hollowly depressing more than beautifully poignant (which I think is the aim). 

The chemistry between the main CP don’t reach the potential the script had for them. It has nothing to do with censorship because whatever they had – I thought – was enough to get their feelings across to establish their attuned bond through life and beyond death. I really loved the writing of the characters and less so the actors’ portrayal, if that makes sense, particularly Huang Jun Jie. He feels washed out in this role. His charisma went incognito. Anyone could have been Lin Jiu Shi. In comparison, Xia Zhi Guang performed much better. He had to alternate between cold and flirty. I really like that I could feel the desire from him at the very least. 

The NPCs outdid the main actors. Then again, the individual stories/“doors” were superior, especially the first half. They were thrilling mini-mysteries that made me more emotional than I was ready for. I also really appreciate how Show integrated the ML's upbringing within the Doors. 

Random Recommendation: Dream Detective

Rating: 4/5

[Ending] Happy (that feels Sad too)

(In the spoiler below, I will also talk about two other dramas with similar endings. Reveal if you think you’ve seen all the popular Cdramas from 2021-2023 and you wouldn’t mind knowing all three endings.)

I think this ending is worse than The Day of Becoming You (2021) and Scent of Time (2023). All of these end as a dream/fantasy, but in The Spirealm, not a single character I cared for truly exists. That hurts and hollowed me. They are alive, but it is not the same. The most important character, Ruan Lan Zhu, is 100% a virtual creation, a figment of the ML’s imagination. I find that so sad and so unhealthy. They tried to beautify their relationship by underlining how Ruan Lan Zhu is real within Lin Jiu Shi. No. I can admire the self-discovery Lin Jiu Shi underwent, but I can’t advocate this romance. 

I think this is a lot better than TDOBY in dropping hints for the ending, though. (TDOBY was awful at this. They blatantly thumbtacked one scene in the beginning and one in the end to pass censorship). The Spirealm was thoroughly planned.

Recommendations

Genre List:

Action, Sports, Thriller / BL

Bromance	Similar	Bromance