乐旋

Comments **contain spoilers**:

Set in the Chinese Republican Era (1912 - 1949), a tumultuous period rife with many internal and external conflicts, our MC - Xu Hang - is a doctor known for treating everyone, including the desperates and prostitutes. He is also a golden canary kept by the commander of the Xiaotong Guan: Duan Yelin. The various events in the story are tied together through a series of murder cases involving golden hairpins. Through each case, Xu Hang’s tragic backstory slowly unveils and his motivations become clearer.

It has been some time since I read a Republican Era story and the whole military x performer dynamic is still very much a staple of such stories. The main couple has an equally tumultuous relationship, characterized by a certain degree of attic-wifing and dub-con, given that Xu Hang is gifted to Duan Yelin by his very own uncle. Within this relationship, Duan Yelin is the first to fall and is often frustrated by a lack of reciprocity from the other, whereas it takes almost the entire novel for Xu Hang to warm up, as he is more preoccupied with seeking revenge for his parents and himself. While the relationship is quite one-sided, it is nice to read that Xu Hang decides to prioritize his survival in the end so that he could return to Duan Yelin. 

Although Xu Hang is a doctor, he is also a trained opera performer, forced to learn different performance styles to please his uncle’s guests. With a knack for ingenious planning, Xu Hang is able to use his various identities as a doctor and performer as guises to conduct his revenge. To add to this list of achievements, Xu Hang is also versed in using guns (surpassing even those of military men) and fighting, a deadly combination to his ruthless nature and beauty. However, it is never explained how he gained these martial and firearm skills, so it ends up coming off as a convenient ‘by the way’ to get our MC out of tricky situations. 

On the other hand, the MC Duan Yelin plays a secondary role to the story and sometimes as a tool for Xu Hang to carry out his revenge. For example, Duan Yelin’s authority prevented others from questioning Xu Hang, despite how sus the latter is. As with many danmei stories, Duan Yelin is cast as a possessive lover, who can be so obtuse when it comes to Xu Hang’s involvement in the murder cases. In fact, it is the side character Yuan Ye that figures out the truth before our own MC. 

Comments **contain spoilers**:

Nero played the role of the disabled, tyrant alpha - i.e. fodder - in an explicit novel featuring the saint shou with four other gongs. Per the original storyline, he was supposed to be beheaded after the Zergs’ attack; and per the System, a host was supposed to occupy his body and complete the mission of earning hatred points from the gongs and letting himself be killed. However, Nero used his strong spiritual energy to kill the host prior to being taken over and the System mistakenly made him privy to his ‘fate’. Upon learning that his Empire would be devastated by the Zergs, Nero set out to change the storyline and save his Empire. 

As for the four gongs? Well, Nero had plans for them in his Empire-saving journey. 

~oOo~

Based on the summary, I entered the story thinking it was the typical smut-filled, unserious a/b/o, and boy was I delightfully surprised by the intense plot therein. The a/b/o part feels more secondary to the main storyline of Nero trying to establish his powers in the Empire and prepare for the inevitable Zerg invasion. Only around chapter 200 did we switch back to focusing on Nero’s new gender dynamic and heir-making. Even then, Nero seems more driven by his ambitions and duties, while the romance takes a backseat. 

A few notable highlights: I love the politics behind how Nero tricked the nobles into thinking that he was a useless flower vase. In reality, he was working to collect talents and amass his own force. There is a certain level of face-slapping when Nero disposes of various nobilities, but it is not excessive and feels deserved. The story is nicely paced and at no point did it feel like it was dragging or rushed. 150+ chapters in and I was still flipping the pages eagerly to see how Nero builds up infrastructures and manpower against the Zergs. The focus on Nero’s tactics and smarts are so well-written that I find myself kicking my feet in excitement when the Zergs finally invaded. 

Talking about invasion, the action component of the story is also very well-written. The author has a knack for describing the formations of the ships, the strategic placement of resources and evacuations of civilians, and most importantly, the author doesn’t hold back on the brutality of the wars. So many lives were lost in the conflicts and Nero was often severely wounded (in fact, he had a physical disability where the tendons in his feet were cut by the space pirates while he was a kid).

Another element that I like is the clever introduction and use of the Asimov collars. Initially it is just a tool used to suppress the omegas into breeding machines. Then it is introduced as a means of punishment and used on slaves or political foes. In the end, the Asimov collar helped Nero fight back against the Zergs and dark matter creatures. In addition to the Asimov collar, there are also a lot of flashbacks to Nero’s childhood. This is skillfully tied in to the reveal of the fourth gong much later on in the story. The constant reference back to elements that were introduced at the start of the story showcases how well thought-out the plot is. 

Now just a few notes that might be of concern to some readers: One, there are quite a bit of dubcon - if not outright non-con - in the story. The original novel features explicit, non-con elements where the four gongs and other side characters forced themselves on the saint, who had a low IQ. This is not elaborated in the actual story; however, what is elaborated on is the fact that the four gongs are mature alphas lusting after Nero, who is - by definition - a minor and hasn’t fully presented yet. 

Second, the relationship between Nero and the four gongs are fraught with power dynamics and dubious at best. Nero and the first gong are childhood ‘friends’. ‘Friend’ being a stretch considering that the White Wolf Knight serves under Nero and treats the other with reverence. He constantly berates himself for harboring lustful thoughts of his master. The second gong is an ex-political enemy of Nero’s family. I’ll say he is by far the most normal of the gang and fulfills the enemy-to-(one-sided)lover trope. The third gong is an ex-slave-cum-prisoner and a half-blooded Zerg. Similar to the first gong, he sees himself as subservient under Nero. The fourth gong - and by far the most dubious - is sort-of Nero’s older brother and their relationship can be seen as partially grooming. You see, Ye Siting is not connected to Nero by blood, however, he often acts as a stand-in for Nero’s oldest brother (then-second prince). Over time, he transitioned from seeing Nero as a younger brother to something more. *spoiler alert* He is the gong that Nero finally settles with and till the end, Nero sees him as half a brother (even admitting that it is kind of weird to kiss Ye Siting and wanting the other to teach him about sex…as an older brother). Do what you will with this information lol. 

Comments **contain spoilers**:

The world is crumbling and different factions have different ideas about escape-slash-surviving in this crumbling world. We have two individuals - one from the Main City and another from the Ghost City - coming together to figure out the truth behind the collapse of the world and their identity. 

Per the title, the City is Melting…and so is my head. Reading this has been a loopy trip through different phases of: ‘what is going on’ → ‘oh I get it now’ → ‘wait, I don’t’ → ‘maybe I do got it!’, rinse and repeat. There is a strive for a grand worldbuilding, with the details revealed in bits and pieces, but the way these elements are pieced together isn’t very reader-friendly. I appreciate the lack of exposition and choice of using context clues to flesh out the world, my main issue is that all these concepts are packed too tightly together. I have barely just figured out what the Main City, Black Metal Barren Fields, Ghost City, and Tongue Bay are before more concepts and characters are thrusted into my face (Bats, Hyenas, Natives, Travelers, E, dew drop, and many, many more!). 

Comments **contain spoilers**:

Ning Yu was invited by his mother to go on a graduation trip to Thailand. What she didn’t tell him, however, was that his half-brother was also going. Ning Yu therefore decided to leave the two of them and tour on his own. That was when he ran into A-Chong, a jack of all trades, whose free-spirited outlook on life and easygoing personality drew Ning Yu in. A story about how two strangers met in Thailand and, through Ning Yu’s persistent pursuit of A-Chong, how the two of them came to terms with their troubled past and learned to love. 

My immediate impression of the story is that the writing is reminiscent of the Chicken Soup stories that I read when I was young, filled with detailed descriptions of everyday things and how they connect to the characters’ inner worlds and backgrounds. There’s an idyllic and romantic tone to the entire story, truly capturing the hot, lazy tropical climate of Thailand. In short, the writing is amazing (and yes, the smut scenes are detailed and steamy too). 

Something else that stands out is the dynamic between the two characters. The wife-chasing trope is very common in danmei, but this time we have the shou actively pursuing the gong, taking the majority of the initiatives to approach A-Chong, even despite numerous rejections. The first part of the story is set in the past, when Ning Yu met A-Chong, with the story focusing on Ning Yu’s perspective; the second half of the story is set in the present, after Ning Yu quits his job and returns to Thailand, where the story switches to focus on A-Chong’s side of things. 

Comments **contain spoilers**

Hamster Shushu came across a red bead, which enabled him to start cultivating. When facing his thunder tribulation, Shushu was zapped and transported into another world, in which not only did he not complete full transformation (i.e. retained his hamster ear and tails), but such features are a characteristic of sub-beastmen. You see, in this world, the gender is classified primarily into beastmen and sub-beastment; the former are strong humans that can transform between their human and beast form, whereas the latter are humans that can get pregnant and retain animal features, but are unable to transform. 

While surviving in a forest, Shushu ran across the former beastman and prince Edgar, who had lost his beast core that enabled his transformation into his human form. Through cultivation, Shushu was able to help Edgar - and many other ‘fallen beastmen’ - to restore their cores. Eventually, Shushu and Edgar married and Shushu gave birth to two children. The only problem? Shushu was terrified of Edgar’s beast form, which was his natural predator: a snake. 

While reading this story, I can’t help but have a sense of deja vu. I’m pretty sure I’ve read this story before, but just never documented it. Anyhow, the story is what I would consider to be the typical 傻白甜 (silly, innocent, sweet) story, which centers around cute and fluffy moments, with characters that are very one-dimensional and a narrative with a black-and-white morality. That is, characters that are considered to be good by the narrative will get their just rewards, whereas characters that are considered to be bad will be punished and have their bad endings. 

Shushu is innocent, chirpy, not exactly the strongest nor the brightest in the crowd, but with everyone else in the world operating on the same simple wavelength, his character suits the cast. Edgar is possessive and incredibly sweet to Shushu to a fault, sometimes at the expense of his friendship and even his image as a prince. Overlooking the fact that he carries a strong patriarchal worldview (as a result of this setting), to the point of sending Shushu to a bridal class to learn how to cater to their beastmen and demonstrating strong favoritism against his beastman son out of possessiveness, there are many cutesy slice-of-life moments between Edgar and Shushu. 

Comments **contain spoilers**:

Xu Pei, a researcher renowned for creating the world’s first S-ranked alpha, was transported out of the omegaverse, into a normal universe after a lab explosion. He arrived just in time to witness an attempted assination on the electoral candidate for the city’s mayor. Xu Pei soon found himself embroiled in various murder cases, in which his keen sense of smell came in useful for identifying suspects and tracing dangers. The senior superintendent of the police force - He Yixun - decided to take Xu Pei home with the intention of keeping an eye on the latter. In the process, he learned about the dubious world of ‘omegaverse’, which he got to experience after being transported there during a stormy night. 

This is the first time that I ran across a mixture of omegaverse, crime and mystery, and sci-fi, with a hearty amount of smut (good lord, the main couple needs to get a room and stop getting handsy in the middle of solving crimes!) all rolled into one story. As such, it is a refreshing read and I love how Xu Pei’s biology - i.e. his nose - came in helpful when solving crimes. The crime and mystery part of the story covers five cases, all of which are loosely connected despite jumping in between worlds and timeline. In He Yixun’s (the non-omegaverse) timeline, the cases are linked to He Yixun’s mother and the organization that she was part of; whereas in Xu Pei’s (omegaverse) timeline, the cases are linked to Xu Pei’s government-assigned fiance and his S-ranked future brother-in-law. So do expect some level of family drama and time-/space-travel shenanigans. As the title humorously suggests, the mechanism for the time-/space-travel involves a stormy night, in addition to the meteorite on Xu Pei’s ring. It is unclear where his parents got the meteorite from, but what is interesting is that after figuring out the mechanism behind the travel, Xu Pei and He Yixun used it effectively to get out of sticky situations and to gather further clues about certain cases. 

The cases and crime-solving occupy about 50-60% of the story; the rest of the story revolves around He Yixun learning - very enthusiastically - about the omegaverse, primarily through helping Xu Pei with his numerous heats. Where this story adds to the omegaverse is to have different types and phases of heats. For example, dry heat versus wet heat, which corresponds to different physiological changes and needs. In terms of intimacy, the story is NOT a slowburn as the two characters get frisky with one another right off the bat. For someone who has a cleanliness OCD, He Yixun sure is more than happy to indulge in getting messy with Xu Pei lol. However, relationship-wise, it does take some time before He Yixun and Xu Pei recognize their feelings for one another. Nevertheless, they are quite in tune with one another from the get-go and I love reading about their brainstorming sessions when they try to bounce ideas off each other to solve the cases. 

Comments **contain spoilers**:

In a world where only a sub-population of humans evolve to have supernatural powers, social structure is being re-defined, political power struggles emerge, and extremists abound to push their narratives. Shen Zhuo, Shenhai City’s great supervisor and ex-HRG Plan lead principal investigator, is a crucial piece in the tension between the normal humans and those who evolved. His research in the HRG Plan could - allegedly - either help humans attain temporary powers to resist against those who evolved, or to help the latter group achieve a second evolution. However, there may be more secrets to this HRG Plan than meets the eye, which resulted in the cessation of the Plan and Shen Zhuo’s dismissal from the research centre, and with extraterrestrial forces intervening, things are bound to get very complex. 

This story scratches my itch for a reimagination of future society and some of the challenges with navigating politics in such a world. You have a host of characters with all sorts of motivations and interests who form temporary collaborations (or collusions) while backstabbing one another. Amidst it all, Shen Zhuo is trying to keep the damning secrets of the HRG Plan under wraps while pursuing the truth of the Qinghai explosion years ago that killed his ‘admirer’ and ‘love rival’ (honestly it came off as a very one-sided rivalry initially with Su Jiqiao seemingly jealous of Shen Zhuo - but remember what I said about characters having their own motivations? It’s a bit more complex than that). Do expect plot twists and, in true Huai Shang-style, a lot of action-packed descriptions. 

Now this is not a Huai Shang novel without an MC that has suspicious relationships with other male characters beyond the ML. Shen Zhuo is essentially your ice beauty heartthrob, with a bunch of S-ranked evolved characters that are obsessed over him. At one point I even thought that the meteorites granted him some sort of secret evolution that is a deadly allure to the S-ranked individuals (but really, it’s just classic Huai Shang dynamic haha). Talking of which, the ML - Bai Sheng - also shares the same fate as many of the MLs in her previous novels of starting out on a tense footing with the MC, having to slowly gain Shen Zhuo’s trust and eventually, his love. It’s a bit unclear why Bai Sheng has such an infatuation with Shen Zhuo right from the start - I thought he was sent to spy on Shen Zhuo by the Roundtable, but it turns out that Bai Sheng has a lot of autonomy and can easily refuse the Roundtable’s request without repercussions - but what is clear is that Bai Sheng has a dogged possessiveness and affection for Shen Zhuo. Which reminds me, talking of ‘dog-ged’…do note that the emphasis on Bai Sheng’s ‘masculinity’, like a ‘wolf’, can get overwhelming and dogblood-level cringey at times (seriously, that’s not how wolf pack dynamics work lol).