If the ultimate purpose was for Shen Si to power up, why did he try to change different events per time rewind? Is it not enough to just live those 100+ years, without making himself a butterfly to the butterfly effect?

Ooops, one thing I kind of regret is, the romance is quite lacking QAQ. The extra chapters are not enough, I want moreeee. I want to see more of the life and romance between our MC and ML! Heck, I want a Kiss, kiss, kiss!! I don't care if they have s*x or not, but at least, give me a kiss QAQ.

Sadly, the author only made 4 extras, with only 2 chapters of it to be dedicated for the MC and ML to mend their relationship (still with no kiss!!) , while the rest 2 chapters for other characters.... right, I know that those 2 characters are quite important and their story need a clear end, however because their story actually take the space of MC and ML's ending, I can only sigh and guiltily think that I don't care about Vice CP aside from MC and ML at all! I want all extra chapters to be about MC and ML, and couldn't care less about any other couple QAQ

sigh.... This is the first time I felt I'm such an impure person, when other's romance are so pure only doing hugging and holding hands, but the old lady here is so impatient and wanting more Pe*verted scene to be added, LOL

p.s I just realized that from the description of MC and ML, their characters reminded me of Kaneki Ken from Tokyo Ghoul and Akutagawa from Bungou Stray Dogs... (MC: A good looking young man around 23 y.o, polite, and has a mild expression, neither cold neither cheerful, has a silver/white colored hair, at some point in the story the MC's bleach came off and makes the area around the roots of the hair went black again ---- conclusion: Truly the depiction of Kaneki Ken) (ML : a sickly beauty, quite thin, tall, always wear a long black coat or windbreaker with thin shirt inside, has a bloody reputation, someone who is coughing like a sick person while walking leisurely... only to kill a dozen people in the next second, his ability "the devourer" is also like Akutagawa's Rashomon ability ----- conclusion: truly the depiction of Akutagawa)

This is because MC broke up with ML when he learned how yandere-ish ML was. So ML tries hard to restrain himself and his thoughts turn somewhat normal by the end of the story.

time: time control, time regression, time manipulation, and so on. In 'The Earth is Online', as far as my memory serves, I think only one arc is completely dedicated to time related plot. But in this story, the latter half of the story is focused on time.

All the things MC does is basically a lie to cover up his true intentions. In that way, he fools the main 'rule' or consciousness of the game fields and finally saves the world.

Shen Si is someone who hates the mountain (because he once fell from it), hates plants, loves and accommodate his boyfriend (ex now). Yet now he worked as a mountain tour guide, he loves plant, and he become cold, indifferent to everyone else including his (ex) boyfriend. It turns out that he's someone who has turn back the whole world time for seven times, and each time he tried again and again because the world's gonna disappear if he didn't succeed in defeating the game.

Anyway, Shen si ability is time. In the first (original) timeline, he enter Unlimited Flow world with his boyfriend, and accordingly if they reach the tenth floor they can go back to real world, which is just a scam because it's the real world that come to the tenth floor and become another game world, in short it disappear. So for this, he turned back the time... Of the world, much to the dismay of the Game Rule.

For Shen Si, he's equivalent to time master, and for him his time is always going forward, from zero straight line to whatever his destination later could be, even if he turned back the whole world time. And for him, the past is something he doesn't care about and the future is an unknown he need to look forward to.

After seventh time of doing this, Shen Si did a 180 degree of his personality, wipe out his memory, and so managed to change the past a little bit (which is something he can't really change (and he doesn't really care)) so that in this timeline he didn't enter the Unlimited Flow world and become an ordinary person. Of course even if it's deviated from the original timeline, it still doesn't change much because instead of real world coming to the game world, it's the other way around and the game world broken and assimilated itself slowly to the real world. And thus its still doesn't change the future (or the present for Shen Si since the future is the past for him until the point he turned back the time).

And so, at the seventh timeline he decided to not turned bacj the time anymore. And lo behold, it turned out that the reason he turned back the time for seven times is not to changed the past, not to do little butterfly effect that changed the present, but to preserve his power until it is enough to wipe the Game Rule/Conciousness forever and after. Remember that time for Shen Si is always moving forward, no matter if the world time is turned back again and again. Shen Si's time doesn't repeat every twenty years, but accumulated, so after seven times it become a power accumulated for hundreds year instead. To hide this from game rule, he tried to change things so it won't realize it since it's quite predictive in seeing time (of course after seven times it got bored of seeing Shen Si effort but hey Shen Si managed to fool it). Until the end, it showed itself to Shen Si because it tried to assimilate Shen Si itself (since the game place can't affect Shen Si) and fall to Shen Si plot. It's time got turned back until the time it doesn't exist, while the rest of the world time is going forward thus its never exist in the past, present and future.

While going through the story, you can see tiny bits of clues scattered around, from how Shen Si destroyed a small game field, to him hating fate, to some other things.

he be the reason why people die I swear in another book, there would be a cannon fodder who will try to go against this villain just to survive.

since it was a team game the dead people revived

MC decides to use a deadly herbicide on the whole city to solve one of the instances, but that makes no sense since it would just kill or make everyone sick, but the author just writes it as if humans are naturally immune to poison and the people are all saved. lol. Then the MC is seen as a God somehow.. It's just a bunch of random plot written on top of each other..

Earth is Online

Global University Entrance Examination

Supernatural Movie Actor App

Kaleidoscope of Death

ONLY Jian Nian is the MC's love interest. The neighbor is only a neighbor (whose soulmate has already passed away at the start of the novel) and the cousin is only an estranged cousin who doesn't even know the MC that well, nor really gets to know him throughout the novel. The MC gains attention of the special force because it seems like too much of a coincidence for the only 3 S ranks to have him as their only common point. They assume that is just a coincidence until it becomes obvious that every playfield that he can enter, he happens to accidentally enter. What happens during the playfields are what really make them pay attention to him.

In that instance, victims kept disappearing, but no one remembered them after they vanished except MC. He tells them, they don't believe him, so he sets out to find evidence. He finds it, comes up with a way to solve everything, and every person who vanished by the end of it is saved. All thanks to the MC.

Jian Nian, who I spoiled myself to know, cause I didn't like him at the beginning cause I was used to overbearing, cool, strong MLs, but in the end got to love him cause Shen Si obv loves him and obv only has feelings for him lol (who u fooling)

I felt so sad for him when he said that he made himself be the butterfly =' (, doing things he hated, loving things he hated, and even changing his own personality from being a cute, smiley, loveable cinnamon roll to an indifferent, loveable cinnamon roll hehehe, I'm also happy that he doesn't feel pity or sad for himself and that he says to Jian Nian that he does get lonely sometimes =' (I really wanted more from them sighh.

I even remembered the translator commenting on the fact that why would shen si have many herbicide when he loves plants, and I think that she thought it was just a whatever that the author used to make the MC shine or smthng but then 👀 bch hated those flowers HAHAHAHA

Jian Nian's

unlimited flow world gone timeline where they remember everything aw. It was also surprising to know that Shen si really was a survivor, kinda wanted to read how he was lol,

One of the things that drives me mad was when the government immediately being alerted/knowing that the MC is related to all 3 S-ranked survivors. Is he the emergency contact or something? Some parts of the novel is really ridiculous that I can't wrap my head around it. And the need to have the MC stand out so much but purposefully to emphasize how 'ordinary' he is, instead of just showing how ordinary he is with what was already given just seems so weak, writing wise.

Yes, this includes why the MC's personality is so dead at first

For example: when the story reveals that he time travelled back 7 times and on the most recent attempt, he made everything abt himself the complete opposite while explaining why he liked butterflies sm in the dream instance, which was because he wanted to be that butterfly that changed everything, a.k.a. Managed to save the world through his actions

I also liked his new personality, he changes a few times, and yes, there are explanations for that, his first change was when he accepted the past, where his parents got into a car accident and he couldn't save them, even by reverting time (after ch. 50, before ch. 80)

It is related to the MC's abilitythe whole time paradox and the MC's plan all along. Obsessions and dreams are for the future, and everything will be alright if the plan works. Then all of the deaths will be invalid

On the other hand, the weakest link in the story was the romance. Unfortunately, we the reader are shown over and over again how indifferent the MC is to everything around him. This is very realistic to what the MC went through, but unfortunately very much hid MC's real feelings for the ML.

Throughout the whole story, we only had ML one-sidedly chasing the MC. There were a few subtle exchanges, but ML was left hanging almost the whole time. It didn't make the relationship feel very "real" and there were no fireworks or romantic tension between the two.

ML also wasn't as developed as a character compared to the MC. At times, I almost wish the story was told from the ML's perspective. On the surface, he was just a very one-note almost-yandere type character who only existed to obsess over and love the MC. We never get a chance to see his other sides; some of the side characters became much more interesting and developed than the ML.

It's boring.

The story introduces many characters early on but doesn't give any reason to care about them. I want more time to get to know them enough to care, but at the same time I don't, because their interactions are so mundane that I want them to end. Already a lot of time spent on side characters such as the officials in charge of controlling the situation, but it's wasted text that the story doesn't need and more characters I don't care about. Perhaps if they had some agenda with the MC it would be one thing... and personality... but they're just benign, well-meaning admin who drag the story down. I suspect it's so the author can info dump or have characters know things without haven't to figure them out themselves, but that just makes it all more bland.

The writing is straightforward and simple, and that's not a terrible thing necessarily, but in this case it's basically listing events, listing reactions... so far I think the only actual POV has been from a inconsistently-realised minor character. As in, she was scared, she was relieved when the MC showed up etc. I never understood what her personality was nor her motivation for doing anything.

And it's already got really really dodgy reasoning. There's a super-popular post made speculating that ordinary people who do instances will get abilities like the survivors and the officials find this suspicious - as if nobody could possibly come with this theory unless they have inside information, and isn't instead something everybody who's read an infinite flow or Solo-Levelling-type or apocalypse story etc. couldn't think of. And it's popularity seemed suspicious, as if this many people couldn't believe something like this without some sinister water army help... like, this would a be massively popular speculative idea on its own, but they've just had hundreds/thousands of infinite flow returnees, many of whom have abilities, and now officials inform everyone that instances are popping up in certain places; Why would the idea ordinary people also having abilities be in any way unrealistic and hard to believe??

So many things in this story have already been poorly, illogically or not really explained.

And then there's the MC. I don't dislike this MC, but in making him someone who tends not to react much to things or show much interest in much, we end up having no reason to care about him. We're barely let into his thoughts at all so we don't have a reason to worry about him more than any other character, nor is there anything to especially enjoy about his character to keep us wanting to read more of him. Crucially, he doesn't appear to have any goal and if he has no goal, then there's no reason to be invested in anything that happens to him because, as far as we can tell, he's perfectly fine and unaffected whatever occurs. Maybe this is a self-insert by the author and the writing is just as emotionless as the MC because it's how the author really is... haha...

Additionally, we're already getting this "he's an ordinary guy but actually he's totally special, " idea being waved at us with bright red flags. Sure, he's an ordinary guy who HAPPENS to be unfazed by everything to an unusual degree. He just happens to be next door neighbours, step-cousins and ex-boyfriends with the only 3 known S-rank survivors in China (and not only does this flag him as cringeworthily special for the story, it also makes anyone who knows notice him as special). And these s-ranks... the neighbour seems to be set up as the love interest (may already love him), the cousin is probably going to become a devoted tsundere teen bulldog, and the ex... well..f- he's already tediously yandere. I'm bored in advance by the idea of having to put up with his obsessive whatever.

...

The story may pick up. Maybe later instances become more intriguing than these ones. Maybe later interactions actually become mildly interesting. Maybe there's a growth/redemption arc for the ex (and if there's instead a villain arc that'd be the most boring development). I don't dislike the MC and the little cousin has potential.

It's just becoming obvious that this story's writing style will not interest me, its logic and even basic character motivation and reasoning will continue to dissatisfy me and I'm not going to enjoy the bland harem and I'm going hate the yandere.

I know that it can be possible to overlook some of these things if you are invested in the overall plot and find enough of the story engaging, especially if the story really does improve. Clearly there are lots of people who enjoy different things to me and were able to do so. But even if others do, I personally just don't find enough in this particular story for me.

The MC's power was also really cool. I obviously wished there could have been a bit more, which is one of the biggest difficulties with this novel. It really could have been longer and taken more time to explore various parts of this world.

The biggest thing I wish the author explored was that one time where the ML and the light dude were very scared of the MC forwarding time, that could have been a very interesting thing to explore, and although it is explained, I do think the explanation and exploration could have been done a bit better.

The ML was Jian Nian. Yes, the ex. The two broke up for a reason, but they have always loved each other for the entire time. DON'T GIVE UP ON THEM. THEY WILL BE TOGETHER.

HE