It's pretty edgy. If you don't like revenge stories, this won't be for you.

To give an idea of what it's about, we all read those 'villain' stories where the heroines regress and feel regret over how they treated the villain.

This is a subversion of that, where the villain doesn't accept their apologies and kills them all.

The big problem with this is the new harem members (since the heroines are dead or discarded) are less interesting than the original heroines.

Just from the first chapter alone had me hooked to this story. This is what happen when you push a normal man, who was taken from his world to possess a villain, off a cliff, even more so if it was by the people who are supposed to be on your side. System? Female love interest? Those are replaceable, yet when a heart is broken once then nothing can fix it to its original state.

Damn, now I'm wishing for more stories like this, where the MC decided that he had... more>> enough of everybody's bullsh*t and goes on a rampage instead of just following the plot again. <<less

What made me stop reading was Author's quote on chapter 4: "I just wanted to portray what a person's normal reaction would be like once experiencing all of this". That is to say, extremely resentful and bloodthirsty after a round of whipping and betrayals.

This is pure nonsense, no one person is alike, and just like this story, the other novels following the trope give little to no clue about their MCs' past and personality for us to judge what would be their "normal" reaction. Even if we just consider the... more>> emotional basis, not every person has the same idea for revenge, and the degree of hatred is also varied.

Most importantly, Author seeems unaware of an important point: MCs of these template stories transmigrate into fictional novel worlds with set scripts for them to play. Living ignorant of this or aware of this makes a huge difference, and although there's a risk of an actor getting too involved in their character, the system is like having the director constantly whispering you the next lines on a microphone. This means the likelihood of being detached and mostly indifferent to your experience is higher than going crazy - if you know the cause and effect of everything that's about to go down, and you're reminded at all times that it's a fake world, you will mostly resent the feeling of physical pain inflicted and may not even take the "NPCs" seriously.

On the contrary, the shock of travelling through a fictional world immediately raises the question: is the "original" world also filled with such inescapable and ridiculous scripts? What's the meaning of going back, then? Such questions may never be seriously considered at any point in someone's life, but even if it's a dull person, it's impossible not to have questions, and the most unrealistic thing in such novels is actually the first moment of transmigration, not the return.

Only if MC had a strong obsession for him to go back, is somehow invested in the plot, or he was indifferent to the previous world, would he actually proceed with the system tasks. Otherwise, the emptiness of leading a futile existence would come crushing down like an avalanche.

In following this consideration, some novels of the trope will hide the system at first, and let the MC experience the first wave like real life, and only upon his death would it be revealed that everything was a tutorial or something similar. But at this point, emotions were truly formed. If not, then MC is addicted to acting and fooled himself into carrying the role everywhere.

The original intention is clearly to express dissatisfaction towards all easy going MCs that went through ab*se, which caters to some, and it should've ended at that. What lofty goals is the author aiming for with a fast food type novel? <<less

When I started reading, there was no Harem tag (or I did not see one)...

It started with a cold, calculating and unforgiving/sightly broken MC, but around chapter 50, the MC started become a true harem protagonist scum. Leading many women by the nose, trying to make them fall for him.... A true scum.

This is not for me. I liked the start, seemed promising, but got ruined by the s*um attribute.

Well written. Good characters. Good translation. Its very dark. Too dark for me to continue reading. I keep hoping for a positive outcome but I can tell I wont get one...

Good if you like dark realism.

Too dark

For revenge theme novel, what I'm looking for are:

• • MC getting their revenge

• • Female characters atonement

• • Protagonist demise

• • Reconciliation

5 chapter in, point 1 and 2 are fulfilled. But the way it written are way too dark for me.

I understand the MC way of thinking. But once again, it's too dark for me.

I gave it 3/5 rate. But if my biased opinion excluded, I can give it 4.5/5

4.2 out of 5 stars

General Review:

This story starts off with a very unexpected and pleasing "story beat" that catches everyone's attention.

... more>> Unfortunately, the rest of the story does not follow this example. The story does not build on the crazy "premise" that it started.

Don't get it wrong, the rest of the story is well written (and well translated, no mistakes at all), but it is a shame that the story couldn't naturally flow from the expectations it set from the first few chapters. This change of "tone" makes the reading jarring and makes the rest of the story feel generic, when it is objectively more than that.

Characters:

MC: Li Lu is a transmigrated person, but he actually was the person who experienced the trauma/betrayal of the stuff. This distinction, personally, is important as I always feel a bit more satisfied when the actual person gets to live their "vengeance/comeuppance" second life, rather than a random reader who transmigrated. MC as a character is jumps from "Ruthless, One-Track Mind Vengeance " to "I don't care, I'm just living my 2nd life". From how the story started, you would assume that MC would be a scheming villain who would get rid of everyone who wronged him soon, but as stated before, this story does a slight tone shift. You can write this off as "subtlety, the MC is not just a short revenge fantasy", but it could just be well written padding. Previous Female Lead: Zhang Ziqin

Spoiler

She is someone who remembers the past as well and realizes her mistake. However, she is doing all the "I was tr*sh, but now I want to reform", but has done absolutely nothing. This is a typical move from these types of stories, so that you don't actually have to feel bad about her. If she was actively trying for redemption, it would be harder for the MC to just be, "Mean Girl is mean, so I don't like her". It's too soon to judge, but the way it's going seems typical in my eyes.

[collapse]

<<less