This is part of my growing number of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu posts. If you want to find more, check out the author tag here.
Releasing three beautiful flowers had been a purely unthinking mistake. Shen Qingqiu had certainly never planned to fill in the gap left behind himself. He had that old feeling of having accidentally picked up the wrong script—it made him vaguely suspicious that that scam of a System was still around.
Three years passed with Shen Qingqiu living a perfectly peaceful life — when he wasn’t out travelling, he might have given his disciples some guidance, and now and then he needed his medicine as well. One day, though, he got a sudden quest and to his horror, it turned out this quest not only was demons feeding themselves, Luo Binghe has already returned from the Endless Abyss. Now he had to get away and quick! But things are never easy for Shen Qingqiu and even after changing his hardware, he didn’t get rid of that virus of a system haunting him.
THE CHARACTERS
Shen Qingqiu
The Twice Dead Guy. How many times can a man die? Well, Shen Qingqiu seems to be trying to find that out.
Luo Binghe
The Upgraded Protagonist. No one is as handsome as this man. No one is as vengeful as this man. No one confuses Shen Qingqiu as much as this man.
Liu Qingge
The Pretty-faced Bodyguard. Having been saved once seems like something Liu Qingge can never repay and Shen Qingqiu seems to just be able to shout his name and he’ll come flying, quite literally.
Ning Yingying
Distressed Damsel. She just can’t catch a break — it’s just that her troubles have changed a lot compared to the original. But she has grown up well enough to no longer help Ming Fan dig his grave.
Shang Qinghua
The Author. Yo, Airplane bro, Luo Binghe’s biggest fan might still have a few — or very many — words to say to you. Wait, what, why are you running off to Mobei-Jun?!
THOUGHTS
Inhales.
Exhales.
Inhales.
Exhal—
Why?! Why do I enjoy hate reading this so much?!
Alright, alright.
This volume continues from where the previous one left off, after a slight time skip. The story still revolves around Shen Qingqiu just wanting to survive and trying his very best not to dig his own grave.
Except for digging graves for himself seems to be his pastime activity as this book keeps going.
Although Shen Qingqiu frustrates me to death and Luo Binghe is almost just as bad, this book does have its funny moments. There are also some probably supposed to be somewhat emotional moments, but with Shen Qingqiu as the MC and POV character, I just feel even more frustrated. My heart did hurt a little for Luo Binghe when Shen Qingqiu shows just how stupid he is.
Thankfully this is also the book when Shen Qingqiu stops being completely oblivious. He’s still a massive simp for Luo Binghe and no one can be more or a Binghe simp than he is. It does mean he’ll have other troubles starting from the next book.
Sighs out nonsense sounds.
Just writing this post frustrates me because SHEN. QING. QIU!
What offence did I commit to end up enjoying the pain of reading this novel a second time?!
Rants aside, like I think I mentioned in my post for volume 1, the writing in this novel is a little rougher around the edges than the later works by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, but has its charm as well. The storytelling isn’t bad, and it’s a decent enough story, while the parody that this is, is rather entertaining, regardless of how much I hate SVSSS. The misunderstandings and Shen Qingqiu’s difficulty with critical thinking and his inability to communicate are frustrating parts for me, and Luo Binghe’s complex is just as annoying, but that doesn’t mean the characters or their dynamic is flawed in a negative way. The annoying dynamic works well with these two and they do have their reasons, making it clear that they’re well-rounded characters.
Overall, I hate this book. Perfect hate-read. Would not recommend. Go read it. 10/10.
Still, if I somehow caught your interest, take note that this is really an adult novel with violence and also sex at the end. We also get a mushroom boy in this book. The book might be something like 7 on the Not Safe For Anny scale because of the violence and some abusive behaviours. The series hits a solid 8 for me, so not child-friendly.
Also, I know I said my MXTX review would be of TGCF. Clearly, I lied. But at least there’s still the manhua review or the author tag for all my reviews of or adapted from works by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. I don’t know what I will review next, but it may be In the Dark by Jin Shisi Chai.
In other news, workers of Seven Seas — the publisher of the MXTX novels — unionised, and for some time 7S didn’t want to recognise the union, but I’m happy to say that they chose to do so voluntarily, meaning Seven Seas is setting an example and is the first manga and light novel publisher to unionise. This will give workers better working conditions, creating a better environment for amazing work, but, hopefully, also allow translators — who are hired on a freelancing basis — better conditions as well.
Some more news is that the promised giveaway will be up in the next few days. I originally planned to have it up a month before my birthday, but I decided to go with my birthday instead, considering I was unwell the days around July 9th. I have August 9th off, so it should be up sometime during next week and run until September 9th.
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