When the last stroke was made, the feelings in Lao Teng's heart were indescribable.

From the initial conception and writing in March 2018 to the publication on May 1st and its release on August 1st, it has been exactly two years and one month since then.

So much happened during this period that I won't go into detail, but in short, Lao Teng learned a lot and gained a great deal from it.

Okay, enough with the sentimentality, let's talk about the book in detail.

At this very moment, Lao Teng knew that countless fans of "Spy Shadow" were criticizing, complaining, and blaming him for not fulfilling his promise to them and for not continuing to write the book.

In fact, Lao Teng was also blaming himself. The book's success today is not due to how well Lao Teng wrote it, but rather to the selfless support of the many readers who love "Spy Shadow".

However, every story eventually comes to an end, and the reason for ending it this way is based on the following points.

First, and most importantly, my body simply can't take it anymore. I'm in my fifties and not a full-time author. Due to time constraints, anxiety, and a two-year hiatus from physical exercise, the consequences have become apparent. At the end of last year, my health deteriorated rapidly, as I've mentioned in previous chapters, so I won't go into details. This caused problems with my updates. What used to be a month's worth of updates took a full three months to complete, which was incredibly agonizing. So, I have to stop and take a proper rest.

Secondly, there is the issue of copyright. Thanks to everyone's support, "The Spy" has achieved excellent results, ranking third in the monthly ticket rankings last year. Subsequently, the copyright was sold smoothly and quickly. However, according to the contract, "The Spy" was required to end at the end of the year. But due to a sudden health problem, it was delayed again and again until now. I have to give the copyright holder an explanation and can't delay any longer!

Thirdly, there's the issue of the work itself. I've noticed before that in some works, especially military history works, there's an unsolvable contradiction: in the early stages, the protagonist is on the front lines of the struggle, personally handling the problems, which gives readers a strong sense of immersion and makes the work very captivating.

However, as the protagonist's status rises, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get involved in frontline affairs, turning them into a dispensable spokesperson and diminishing their presence.

For example, a soldier with superb martial arts skills charges into battle and defeats powerful enemies, which is a great thrill. But in the end, he is promoted to Grand Marshal and can no longer charge into battle. At most, he can give an order, and there are no more passionate descriptions. When the story reaches this point, the readers have already lost their sense of immersion, and it is time to end it.

Although Old Teng also knew about this problem, it was difficult to solve. In the early stages, the protagonist Ning Zhiheng personally led the operation and killed many enemies, which was indeed very satisfying, and the readers were also very immersed in the story. However, later on, when he was in a high position and became the top intelligence expert between China and Japan, it was no longer possible for him to be on the front line.

Old Fujiwara had sensed this problem since Ning Zhiheng's operation to eliminate Japanese spies in Chongqing ended. In the chapters after Ning Zhiheng returned to Shanghai, although Old Fujiwara tried his best to get Ning Zhiheng involved in specific matters as much as possible, he was still unable to completely solve the problem.

Towards the end, Lao Teng found it difficult to focus his writing on the main characters, and many chapters focused on the supporting characters. This meant that he had to make the supporting characters' scenes vivid and engaging so that readers wouldn't get bored, which was indeed difficult and significantly increased the writing challenge.

Therefore, I have decided that in my next book, I will depict the combat career of a low-level special agent, in a position that is not too high, to avoid the problems that occurred this time. I will try to focus the writing on the protagonist to increase the readers' sense of immersion, and hopefully I can achieve a breakthrough.

Finally, I'd like to mention that during the five-year gap between 1941 and 1946, many storylines occurred that were worth writing about. Although I had written an outline, I had to abandon it in the end. These are described in the second and third final chapters.

For example, the operation to eliminate Japanese spies in Changsha, the operation to eliminate Japanese spies again in Chongqing, and the most noteworthy moment in the history of Chinese intelligence before the attack on Pearl Harbor, especially He Siming's combat journey after going to Xiamen Special Higher Police, etc., can all be written in detail.

If any author or reader of "Spy Shadow" is willing to write a fan fiction to describe these unfinished plot points, it would fill a gap in the work "Spy Shadow," and I, Lao Teng, would be extremely grateful!

Alright, that's all for now. In short, thank you all again for your support. It is because of you that I have the motivation to get to where I am today.

Thank you! I look forward to working with you again to create new chapters!

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