borrowed shall ye never be

'Is that wha-?'

If you get mentioned under ANY blog that says they're Tumblr staff. DON'T FALL FOR IT!!!!!!

So! I'll start first with a word-from-god (is thaylt the phrase?) from npss. i cant find a screenshot now cuz i dont remember where exactly this was said so yall will just have to Trust Me on this.

Sometime probably last year or just a bit earlier, someone asked about the ending of DMBJ as we know, he had publicly announced the goal of bring the story to an end. The story at the last/more recent bit of canon timeline is the Ghost Banquet Trilogy where the entire gang (Iron Triangle, Xiazi, Xiao Hua and even Xiuxiu) are trapped in an impossible to escape underground cavern facing impossible foe that are very likely some sort of higher beings. So. Severe stakes and people were worried if it'll end with "and they all died".

In response to that, npss admitted that he had grown soft over the years, as he aged and saw how much people cared about these characters, so he no longer wanted a harsh and realistic ending. (im paraphrasing and i could be wrong but just let me ramble)

anyways bringing this mindset into the southern archives book VS drama situation where the question is "does haixia die (again)?" I Posit: Yes But--- first a segue into Yinsi.

At the end of Yinsi, the protag (wonderful girl she is) is faced with a mere 30% chance of surviving a life saving surgery. And in hopes of helping her chances, Wu Xie turns to metaphysics/ folks belief. Which important note, such information of this belief is brought to him via Xiazi. (xiazi's unreliable-reliable but its really 50-50 and he is more or less classically trained in the divination side of metaphysics).

The core of the belief is that by wiping this girl's existence for the next 7 years (meaning, there will be no mentions, no photos, no naming names, no records whatsoever), they could help increase her chances of survival.

Now, to put another tinfoil hat on top of the current tinfoil hat im wearing: this story, specifically the last chapter to this story is posted on 16th Feb 2025. i looked up the last filming date for southern archives---17th Apr 2025. Which IMO is sufficient time to make script changes/decide on the ending.*

*The leaked script has a banner of [To Be Determined] over a lot of the post-resurrection Haixia scenes. So while i dont know the which version of this script is and how close it is to the final filming date, i can Hope.

So, couple all that with a recent Q&A where someone asked npss if Haixia is truly dead and he answered "death would be better" (disclaimer: this could also refer to the mental toil of the resurrection bug), id like to say that nope, Haixia isnt dead. Hes just in existence purgotory like A-Zu. Probably meditating in some remote village waiting for his 7 (or 70, or more cuz zhangs, i think they get like anti-discount on account of their lifespan or sth) year disclosure clause to expire. and of course, its a horrible wait for everyone involved.

The Rodeo Rule: you only have to do it for the first time once.

The Rohan Rule: if you are at a social function full of new people and you want to be liked, find someone doing important work like setup or food prep and offer to help.

The Tutorial Mode Rule: to navigate an unfamiliar situation where you fear you will mess up an interaction, preface the interaction by mentioning that you've never done this before, and let them know if you have a specific concern or question.

The Rocket Science Rule: most new things you want to try seem very complicated but are simple when taken step by step.

The [X] Will Remember That Rule: if you need to make small talk with the same person on a regular basis, try to save one fact or current event in their life from a given conversation and bring it up next time you talk.

Help me. I shouldn't live like this.

南部档案 Archives: The Nanyang Mystery · 2026