I don't understand how people can have the audacity to say, XRD's character was so OOC in the last reset where he just threw his character settings away, did you forget how hard he cried? Did you forget how badly he was traumatized in the last instance by Lian Qiao's ruthlessness? He's rather abandon his bottomline than wish for Lian Qiao to turn into someone he, nor Lian Qiao himself wants.

it is clear he subtly remembers things from both XRD's resets and their past turns, perhaps not as much their past turns, this is more instinctual and traumatic, but XRD's resets may slowly creep up in his mind as their fates are closely intertwined together, it is a very subtle process. You also need to remember that the more XRD acts like how he did in the previous instance (Saving others, not caring for oneself) he gets extremely triggered and blackens, this is why in the last reset he didn't because XRD was extremely ruthless, XRD knows this is the only way he can keep LQ from blackening, hence why he acted that way.

Moreover for those who were pissed about his behavious in the last arc, remember that true blackening/trauma impulse behaviour and what-not is not specific to the target causing harm to Rendong, he simply loses control and turns violent, this is that instinctual switch he cannot switch off, and you know what the worst part is? For someone as bright and sunny as Lian Qiao, this is the last person he wants to become.

If Lian Qiao retained his memories, that would be a BE, Lian Qiao hated himself, and that's why he was so eager to send just Xu Rendong out alone, he hated himself so much he believed Rendong did too, after all, he'd become like this, ruthless, cruel and selfish, how could he still live with himself after that? For those who wanted his memories to be retained really need to go research some psychology first, if you read this with your own fantastical thoughts, it won't work out because the novel is on the realistic side.

For the so called 'loopholes'

The only possible way to clear Xu Rendong's instance was to find out his infinite loop bug because killing him would just reset the instance, this is very clear.

Second, SJC had a special 'op' ability because he clearly wished for that in his second turn and perhaps made him into his boyfriend in his third. It can also be said that Lian Qiao was retaining a bit of his memories because of familiarity, and the fact that the key was on him the whole time could also be one factor, since it seemed to heat up each time, this shows that retaining a bit of memories wasn't impossible, moreover, we don't actually have a clear idea on whether the memories he retained were from previous turns or this turn XRD's resets, I believe it's the latter, I don't think Lian Qiao actually ever got his memories from previous turns again, but rather remembered XRD's resets.

Their destiny is intertwined and the subtlety they feel from each other shows that they are very connected, this may explain why Lian Qiao retains memories from XRD's resets, not previous turns. Rather, the what he felt was a traumatic response or an instinctive familiarity. Either way, it is not a far fetched idea, and cannot be considered a loophole.

It is true that the setting of the last instance might've been done quite poorly, especially when you compare to an instance in mist that had a similar instance but I feel the author really wanted to just focus on their mental states and how Lian Qiao and Xu Rendong would react to a different scenario each time, this may feel repetitive for those who aren't that interested in their psychology, but I very much was and seeing how they changed each time really made the last arc enjoyable for me. If you just read it for an interesting arc with complex clues and a puzzle to solve you'll be disappointed. And I don't think that is all that necessary considering the last arc was simply about Lian Qiao finding the truth behind Xu Rendong's bug.

At first, he was traumatic about the pain, and he would stop taking death seriously, and when he lost his loved one, he would appreciate that he was able to go back through killing himself to save the ML. The most touching scene for me is that after being killed in desperation without knowing any clues about the game, he cried and didn't want to continue. That moment makes me feel him alive. His vulnerable, indifferent part makes him imperfect but complete.

OH MAN, MC is more ruthless than I thought, scratch that, BOTH LEADS r quite violent huuuu THATS EPIC S HELL

the last arc, kinda got confused with the mtl mumbo jumbo about time and space

the ending: it seemed kinda rushed and disappointing to me. the author definitely could've put more thought into the ending, rather than it be "MC found out everything but ML knows nothing" and "yea a bunch of this stuff happened in the last cycle but I'm not going to explain how or show emotional flashbacks", which leads into the next point.

the previous cycle: since the MC died so many times in the first "instance" in present-time, how did he survive the previous cycle? this may have been mentioned in the last couple of chapters but mtl didn't get the meaning across (+ my memory about it is kinda hazy)

ML perspective: I don't know about other readers but I really wanted to read more about the ml's reaction to MC dying. especially with the recording (?) eyeball thing. I was so upset about it that I cried LOL (though that also could've been because of how heart-wrenching the situation was too...) I guess sometimes you just have to use your imagination...

mc's emotional numbness (?) : the first part of the novel I could definitely feel the emotions, but in the middle it kinda became flat? 2d? numb? although that it probably very reasonable given that he has died a number of times LOL. kinda felt like sometimes he was just an observer in the ml's journey. might re-read to check over this 'cause based off other readers reviews it could feel numb because it's a cold, hard machine translation rather than a loving and warm translator's translation. ily translator <3

mentally unwell tendencies of “being the bad guy” so the other wouldn’t have to. It took them approximately 190 chapters to understand that they can do things together and none of them had to take on the role of a villain alone.

The one where we met Xu Rendong’s mother, the one with five seasons followed by Xu Rendong’s hospitalization, and the last arc about repeating Rendong’s life. The first due to the callous way the author decided to write it, treating the whole arc riddled with sensitive topics very blandly as if it was just to tick a checkbox. Rendong’s mother was assaulted as a kid, had to abandon Rendong at 13, and then dying through cancer, yet it was written so badly with little to no oomph as if it was mostly expository. The arc was also ridden with Lian Qiao acting like a weirdo by being constantly jealous of her since he thought she was Rendong’s ex, and Rendong doing little to dissuade him that some of his death within that instance stemmed from the fact that LQ got too jealous and pitted his survival.

Rendong’s injury and eventual hospitalization was completely unnecessary and s*upid in retrospect. It happened because Lian Qiao decided to be a brat and that arc felt like something done by the author just to throw around some REDUNDANT medical procedures and jargons that DID NOT affect the story in any way. I understand the author is very medically inclined, maybe a med student. But hey, you’re writing a story, not an attending doctor’s record, get back on track.

The last one was just. Excruciatingly boring. It repeated Rendong’s life from newborn to adulthood right before he entered the elevator. It was filled with asinine black and white moral seesaw of the main characters. It was the author’s unedited rambling. The whole time I was so sure that this could’ve been over within 40ish chapters. Not to mention the ending, it was so weak that frankly. I don’t really want to talk about it.

Final arc was mostly the daily life of the MC in reality, where the ML and players help him grow up from when he's a baby to 28, with each day in the game being a year of growth. Too much detail about him studying for exams and growing up. I didn't pick a horror genre so I could read slice of life with the occasional death...I preferred reading that only between levels.

Ch 73 though, , , that death, , bruh?? Imagine if there was no resets and the novel ended there ASDFGHJK this novel was easily 5 stars but I despise the trope of severe misunderstandings that could have been solved if they just spoke a few words. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen again

they were lovers before who lost their memories of eachother, have been trapped in the infinite games before sacrificing everything to save eachother

the MC didnt instantly tell that zhong xiu is his mother

I know it's a bit oot but as a nursing student, I really like how detail the author describing the ICU, some of the nurse's and doctor's job when MC was submitted to ICU after falls down from apartment with ML, and the information around medicine or psychology on author's note

but he doesn't know that the MC literally cannot reveal anything to him.

and it ends up being a big mystery for nothing, because the ML doesn't actually have anything particularly mysterious about him

and that was never really explained...

The Without a Key instance was the worst example of this for me, because he kind of betrays the MC by hiding something crucial from him. And since he saves him in the end, it feels like everything is instantly forgiven. Of course, we can put ourselves in his shoes too, because in that same instance the MC also seemed to abandon him (even if he didn't mean to), especially since the ML's leg was injured.

like the accident in the 6th arc, when the ML caused their fall but ends up with just a scratch, while the MC breaks multiple bones and nearly dies

why do you have a crush on someone clearly in a relationship ?

1. The readers are led to believe that there are 10 instances that players have to go through to be released from the instance hell, however there ended up being only 7. It is quite strange because we even meet a character who had supposedly gone through 9 instances before reaching his 10th with the MC and ML. I have a feeling this is because the author ran out of ideas for the instances and decided to just end it at 7.

2. In the final instance's second last run, the ML seemed to have fully regained his memories for some reason. It was never explained whether he just had a memory breakthrough on his own, or if it was because he used his key. However I suppose that he just remembered it on his own because the key is implied to have turned into the elevator button at the end. Either way, I really wished that the author would have written the perspective of the memory-awakened ML, because we don't get to see the full scope of the ML's emotional turmoil, and everything is very implied. I felt a bit blue-balled by this personally. What's worse is that at the end when they return back to their normal lives, the ML's memories of the past got reset again and he doesn't have the memories of the full story of him and the MC.

I have other little nitpicks about the story, but I think overall the good parts outweigh the negatives. It's just that I'm still left wondering about a lot of things, which is a bit sad.

especially I was looking forward to ML remembering all the restarts and deaths, which the translator said will happen... And also the summary kind of implied it too... Honestly. I feel kind of cheated by the end and by the last arc which totally turned from horror story to school love story of h**ny teenagers. And then quick skip to the end that resolved almost nothing.

Why only let the MC suffer? What was all the point in describing cruel ways the MC died infront of ML, all the ways they spend time together, saving each other, loving each other... Only for ML to not remember it at all? It feels so... Depressing. So needless. Why give ML occasional flashes of those moments, but at the end, not having him remember at all???

especially the tomboy mom in second instance who wanted to drink wine with them