The new book by True North’s alt account, *The Cemetery at My Home Is Connected to the Game World*

“Is that you?”

“It’s me!”

“This is absolutely not you!”

“I used to be a shameless flirt, but now I’m… mature and steady…”

…

That is exactly how I felt reading North’s new book under his alternate account, Liang Bian. It opens in a fantasy style, and on my first glance I nearly skimmed right past it. But when I went back and read it properly, I found the writing remarkably composed, the plot carefully crafted and genuinely compelling—every bit the work of a veteran author. Definitely worth a look. What’s more, its ratio of subscriptions to recommendations, as well as its follow-up reading figures, are actually quite strong. I believe it could take off once it gets a few more promotional opportunities.

The only thing I could not see was that it had been written by him.

To be honest, I did not originally want to recommend this book. I still favor his first work in the spirit-energy genre, Starting with a Great Angel. Many readers have asked me, “Ashtray, is that you writing under an alternate account?” I have so longed to shamelessly puff out my chest and declare, “That’s right. I am Tang Bohu!”

A few days ago, when I started reading this new book from his alternate account, my very first thought was, “It’s only a Level One alt. He’ll drop it in no time!” I wasn’t joking. These days, whenever I see a Level One alt climbing the rankings, my legs go weak. Which big-name author is pretending to be a rookie this time?

The terrifying thing about a Level One account is that if the book fails to get through two rounds of trial recommendations, the author can decisively abandon it and run, then start another one from scratch. In other words, a big-name author gets at least twelve chances a year to make mistakes. In this age when traffic is king, sooner or later one of those attempts will catch the wind and soar to the heavens!

I once saw an outsider journalist report that Yuewen had several million registered authors, and it made me laugh. A million authors? No. Those were millions of discarded books littering the ground!

But what happens when a famous author’s main account flops? He still has to grit his teeth, finish a million-word novel, and bear the disgrace of leaving behind a badly botched ending. That is exactly the situation North finds himself in with his main account.

Actually, I’m in the same boat. How many books have I ruined now? Other big-name authors’ comment sections are full of “666,” while mine and his are filled with remarks like, “Don’t botch the ending again,” and, “Please don’t abandon it halfway this time.”

At least I lived in a remote little county town, and this was before 2015. One successful book was enough to buy three apartments, marry and raise a family, settle the parents, and even start a small business. But North is still young, and he has already lost six or seven years to wandering. In truth, we have both run into the same problem: we can’t quite keep up with the games of the new era.

Neither of us plays League of Legends. Neither of us plays battle royale games. We also have little appreciation for those mobile games built around ten-pull gacha draws. And we never managed to make the leap into fantasy cultivation. So what are we supposed to do?

I’ve figured it out now: go retro. Like turning on your computer and having a web page mysteriously pop up for a game called Legend: One Slash, 999 Damage…

If I can hold steady, I’ll just retire on it.

That’s enough rambling. We’re two unfortunate fellows in the same boat—let’s support each other and open a retirement home together, shall we?