Chapter 38: The Tailor and the Architect in 1881
Stranger
The tiles underfoot were made of brass. When you stepped on them, the echo would travel from the soles of your feet straight up to the crown of your head.…
January 2026
Chapter 37: I’m just sitting here chatting with you, without getting any injections or taking any medicine.
Pushing open that dazzling golden door, all that greeted them was a pitch-black underground lake. Vivian found this place familiar—she’d nearly ended up feeding a turtle here once. But something…
Chapter 36: How Did the Live Stream in the Otherworld Encounter the Mysterious Label-Pluging Man?
Central Hall. This was supposed to be the final stage of Jealousy, but at the moment it looked more like a ransacked secondhand furniture market. The floor was a deep…
Chapter 35: Theology is the realm of ignorance masquerading as divine knowledge.
The vortex closed quickly—so quickly that even the echo of that desperate cry for help hadn’t had time to fade. Cicero kept his arm outstretched, fingers grasping at nothing but…
Chapter 34: After two and a half years of practice, I’ve mastered singing, dancing, polo, and basketball.
That forceful suction flung Vivian out. “Thud!” She landed hard on the floor. It hurt. Vivian struggled to get up, rubbing her aching backside. “Wh…where am I?” Vivian muttered softly.…
Chapter 33: The priest uses the Bible to preach; the priest gets the middle finger from the priest.
The applause from the audience had yet to subside when the rousing “Ride of the Valkyries” was suddenly cut off, as if someone had seized it by the throat. The…
Chapter 32: I thought it was a speed bump. Go tell my insurance company.
In the orchestra pit of the Garnier Opera House, the cellist squeezed his eyes shut in utter despair. It wasn’t that tonight’s sheet music was especially difficult, but rather, the…
Chapter 31: Ron Green’s Super Swan in Wuhu Prepares for Takeoff
The backstage prop room of the Paris Opera House was filled with the smell of cheap greasepaint. “I’m not doing it.” Vivian crossed her arms and shook her head like…
Chapter 30: I keep shouting “Demons and monsters, get out of my way!” Are you deaf?
That intense pain came and went just as quickly. Vivian didn’t even have time to shout, “Hot, hot, hot!” before that suffocating golden mist abruptly dissipated. The man standing center…
Chapter 29: Swimming in the sewers and coming back means I can’t take the civil service exam.
“Unlucky! Unlucky! Unlucky!” Vivian scrambled up from the heap of broken violin bows, rolling and crawling in a panic. The racist “Inquisitor Model III” was already tossed at her feet;…